All fueled up

If nothing about insouciantly dressed bargirls in luxe denim appeals to you, then turn the page now. Because nothing about Diesel is subtle or meek. It’s all rodeo charm and overt sex appeal.

While fashion’s consistent obsession with all things flat and cocaine-induced skinny (name check: Ikeline Stange, Gemma Ward, etc) never wanes, some designers have opted to take the other road and celebrate the buxom and outlandish.

Instead of sleek cocktail numbers that wouldn’t look out of place at a prom, Diesel’s been known to send out dresses in full-on denim with a long skirt cut in front to expose a lot of skin. 

For Diesel’s latest fall/winter runway show, models dressed in leather motorcycle jackets and skintight jeans took over the catwalk. There were zip-up vests, cigarette pants, denim trenchcoats, ruffled blouses, lace on leather, off-shoulder sweaters and printed tees. The designers mixed up textured materials like suits and waistcoats in herringbone tweed, some knits in cashmere and wool, silk chiffon for dress, metallic knits and studs for accents and lots of untreated denim for a darker, more urban wash for jeans.

The label likes looking to stereotypes that fit the style bill: the saucy schoolgirl, the denim-clad tramp, the man-eating, menswear-wearing stilettoed career woman, the punk kid in all-black leather, the sexed-up cowgirl.

Before the brothers Dean and Dan Caten took their shears to denim and offered micro minis and super sexy tops so Brazilian models could show off their tanned tatas to the world, Diesel was already manufacturing jeans so low they made underwear unnecessary.

Renzo Rossi built the house of Diesel in the mid-eighties, transforming a small luxury brand into a global label. Cheeky ads featuring the Diesel lifestyle turned consumers onto the then-unknown brand. There was the "Live Forever" campaign years ago, featuring waxy, mannequin-like models in uncomfortable, carnivalesque twisty positions, with taglines crowing about age-defying elixirs. Way to call the Botox generation. The latest campaign features models clad in the label’s signature denim in – of all places – heaven. Shot by Terry Richardson in black and white, the "Afterlife" campaign signifies, according to the brand, "the yin and yang, the pure and the decadent, the sacred and the profane. In other words, it’s all about rock and roll – and Diesel, of course."

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For their fall/winter collection, Diesel is launching the Diesel Denim Gallery: limited-edition collectable items for men and women. Early samples include treated wrinkled greasy leather jackets, cashmere knitwear and limited-edition denim. 

Diesel is exclusively distributed by Store Specialists, Inc. Stores and is available at Greenbelt 3, Power Plant Mall, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Robinsons Galleria and Robinsons Place Manila. –Bea J. Ledesma