Y/Project’s Glenn Martens is putting fun back into fashion

Hey Glenn! Talk me through the Y/Project x Ugg collaboration; what was the main inspiration behind this collection?

It started with what UGG really means. I really went to the core of the brand. It’s a surfers brand, invented in the 70s, invented for all those surfers coming out of the pacific coast with their frozen feet so they need a shoe to heat them up as fast as possible. That was the starting point for this capsule, it’s true if you put you foot in it it’s so comfortable and warm – it’s amazing. I wanted to enhance this feeling even more with the extreme height, like your whole leg can be warm in this shoe. What was really important over the whole capsule actually was the democratic vibe of UGG: so many different people from different backgrounds have worn them. In Australia it’s a really comfortable shoe whilst in Belgium, UGGs were more of a fashion statement. We wanted to create a collection that was very diverse, in very different styles and have this typical Y/Project twist, which is really versatile. You can really style them up, bring them down or wear them more conceptually. It’s about trying to reach more independent characters.

I remember when UGGs were huge in the mid noughties! How would you describe your personal style back then?

I was a fake skater. I basically skated for one day, I fell and broke my arm and so I was traumatized for life. But all my friends were skaters, so I just hung around the skate park, smoking joints, wearing baggy pants [laughs].

How has your day-to-day style changed since?

To be honest I’m travelling so much, looking at aesthetics and how fashion effects people, I just try to be as comfortable as possible. Half of the time I’m fitting clothes onto people so I’m on the ground doing hemlines so 90% of the time I’m in my black denim and black T-shirt.

The thigh high Y/Project x Ugg boots were everywhere on the ‘gram, from the runway to Rihanna’s seal of approval. Does social media hype ever inform your approach to fashion?

In 2018, social media is part of our society and actually now it can be very enriching. In one hour I can be in the club scene in Berlin or a very fancy art scene in San Francisco. Depending on the people you’re following you can really live their life – it’s a really good tool to travel the world and see what’s happening. It can be very inspiring.

Who do you love to follow on Instagram?

The nice thing about when you work in fashion is you have such an international group of friends. When I studied at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, it’s an international school so all my friends travel the world and live somewhere else. Instagram is a great way of keeping in touch with them. I’m always laughing at Loic Prigent, he’s a French guy [and] he does these fun, a little bit bitchy fashion posts. Always really absurd! There’s also Insta Single which is really funny. And I actually like these stupid things like animals doing things [laughs].

From an outsider perspective fashion can seem quite a serious industry and very Devil Wears Prada. In your opinion, do you think fashion is seeing the funny side more in 2k18?

I mean every designer is doing their own thing, definitely for me though fun is one of the main reasons I’m in fashion. It’s a very hard business, oversaturated, you have to work long hours for little pay and for me there’s really no point in doing it if it can’t be fun. It’s important that my team is having fun in the company. That’s my personal take on it. Life is very serious so why not enjoy it [through fashion] and bring people a little joy.

How would describe the Y/Project DNA in three words?

Eclectic, celebrative, opulent – it’s not minimalist for sure!

You studied in Antwerp. Have you found there are specific qualities about Belgium fashion over the years?

I think Belgium designers are a little more conceptual basically. Whilst studying at Antwerp it was really about the story behind the clothes and that’s something I really believe in. I will never make a dress just because it’s pretty – even if the end result is a pretty dress there has to be a concept behind it. Another Belgium way of thinking is there is always something hidden behind it. Belgium is a very big and industrial, very grey and rainy so it takes so time to find the charm but the charm is there, you always have to look behind it!

The future of fashion – in one word?

Transparency.