Diesel launched a new collaborative capsule collection with Hood by Air designer Shayne Oliver last week during Paris Fashion Week.
The collaboration is part of Diesel’s Red Tag Project, which invites designers to reimagine Diesel’s denim and sportswear heritage.
Oliver is known for unapologetically mixing American pop culture references into his work, and here is no different.
For this collection with Diesel, Oliver juxtaposed Diesel’s Italian heritage with Americana. In particular, he focused on denim-on-denim looks. The collection included an oversized denim tie styled with a denim shirt, jeans and a denim belt; a full-length denim coat, in a color Oliver coined “sitcom blue”; super-skinny jeans reconstructed from a jeans jacket; slouchy graphic thigh-highs; and a dark indigo layered apron dress.
The eclectic collection stays true to Diesel’s roots. In February, the brand garnered social media buzz with a knockoff pop-up shop in New York City’s Chinatown. The shop was a play on the designer-counterfeit market during which Diesel peddled off-price goods like jeans, T-shirts and hats with its name purposely misspelled.
Diesel has been without a creative director since Nicola Formichetti stepped down last December. Although Rosso has yet to name Formichetti’s replacement, a New York Times article in February suggested that Oliver’s current presence at Diesel might signal that he may be a worthy candidate to fill the role.
Oliver took a hiatus from Hood by Air in April 2017, which allowed him the freedom to focus on the Diesel collection. Prior, he collaborated on a special collection for Helmut Lang.
