Diesel's Milan Show Turns Orgy Stunt Into Backlash

NY Post reports Diesel creative director Glenn Martens stunned Milan Fashion Week with a red-lit audience kissing performance set to Donna Summer's 'Love to Love You Baby'.

Per the New York Post, Diesel creative director Glenn Martens opened his Spring-Summer 2027 show at Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, with what looked like a conventional runway — until the lights turned red. Models who had been secretly seated in the audience began kissing, moaning and performing what the Post describes as X-rated acts while Donna Summer's 'Love to Love You Baby' played, with one front-row guest reportedly sucking on his fingers to the visible horror of nearby attendees. Martens told AP backstage, per the Post, that every season Diesel tries to do something unexpected and this one was 'a bit more … experimental.'

The Post reports the spectacle immediately divided the internet, with thousands of social media users labeling the performance 'distasteful,' 'gross' and 'absurd.' New York-based model Luca Mornet, who shared the scene on Instagram, wrote he had 'never been more confused in my whole life,' and commenters asked what had happened to society and whether runways could just show clothes again. Some X users claimed the acts were so distracting they could not pay attention to the collection, though the Post notes a defiant minority cheered the show for 'bringing the catwalk alive.' Martens defended the work as body positivity being part of Diesel's DNA, according to the Post.

Beyond the performance, the Post describes a destabilized collection in which knitwear appeared to disintegrate into denim and leather, while shorts shrank progressively across the lineup until the final look was little more than a strip of fabric across the model's rear. One pair worn by a male model resembled denim underwear, which the Post dryly notes does not sound comfortable. Harper's Bazaar, which covered the same show, notes Diesel's front row drew VIPs including Kim Petras, JoJo and Joe Locke, placing the stunt in front of a celebrity-heavy audience during a Milan calendar running through Sept. 28.

The Post frames the Diesel stunt as part of a string of fashion-week controversies. It reports that days earlier, CFDA chief executive Steven Kolb resigned after footage showed him physically restraining two PETA protesters demonstrating against H&M Group's use of wool at New York Fashion Week — pushing one protester named Mason Melito and wrestling another to the ground while covering their mouths. Kolb later conceded his actions were 'inappropriate' and said he was 'deeply sorry,' according to the Post, making Milan's provocation land amid an already fractious season for the industry.

The Post reports that Martens nonetheless received a standing ovation at the end of the show, suggesting the provocation worked on the industry audience even as it enraged the wider public online. That split is the point of Diesel's recent runway strategy, which Martens described as doing something unexpected every season; the Post quotes him tying the body-positivity celebration to the brand's DNA. For a brand whose fashion-week moments now double as viral marketing, the risk is that audiences remember the spectacle — or, as one X user put it, that they could not even see the collection.

With Milan Fashion Week running through Monday, Sept. 28 before the baton passes to Paris, Harper's Bazaar reports the coming days bring shows from Marni, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli, Blumarine, Gucci, Moschino, Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta and Giorgio Armani, along with after-parties and outfit changes. Whether any house attempts a provocation to match Diesel's remains to be seen, and Jennifer Lopez, Gigi Hadid and Cardi B are still moving through the front rows.