Y/Project

Y/Project was founded in 2010 in Paris by Yohan Serfaty (1976-2013), a French designer who had previously worked at Lagerfeld Galerie. After Serfaty's untimely death in 2013, the brand was taken over by his close collaborator Glenn Martens, a Belgian designer who graduated from the Royal Academy of Antwerp. Martens led Y/Project for 11 years (2013-2024), turning it into one of the most-discussed designer brands of its decade through a vocabulary of deconstructed silhouettes, exaggerated proportions, and ironic engagement with logo-luxury. The Y/Project vocabulary settled around several signatures: the multi-waist trouser (with several layered waistbands), the elongated denim jacket, deconstructed shirting, and the brand's frequent revisitations of trompe-l'œil printed denim. Martens's collaborations with Diesel (Diesel Y/Project), Canada Goose, and Jean Paul Gaultier brought the brand commercial visibility while maintaining its avant-garde editorial register. In 2024 Martens announced his departure from Y/Project to focus on Maison Margiela (as creative director, replacing Galliano) and Diesel (where he is also creative director). Y/Project, unable to find a sustainable creative-director succession, announced its closure in 2025 — a notable end for what had been one of the most-discussed designer practices of the 2010s. The brand's archive remains heavily collected; pieces continue to circulate in resale and second-hand markets.