Backstage at the Bryant Park tents before the Diesel show on Tuesday, Diesel founder and president Renzo Rosso, 52, was wearing, under a black blazer, a black Margiela T-shirt that said, in white block letters, “THIS IS MY SUIT.” (He is a majority shareholder of Margiela, and also the label DSquared). “It express who I am and my message,” he said.
Mr. Rosso was lounging in a spare private room with his wife and three young children, out of earshot of the models and TV crews. His piercing blue eyes and crazy curls recalled Virgin founder Richard Branson—a man with whom he has some entrepreneurial commonalities, though he is considerably better-dressed.
“The market today looks for a lifestyle,” he said, in a thick Italian accent. “And it’s important that you like the mood of one brand, the lifestyle, the spirit. And I think Diesel have an incredible lifestyle.”
So incredible that Mr. Rosso wants to give the luxury consumer a chance to live it, too, and will do so with Diesel Black Gold, the more expensive ready-to-wear line he was rolling out on this day (he already does fragrances, intimates, accessories, watches, and sunglasses).
“You can reach a younger consumer with Diesel and you can reach a more mature consumer who wants something maybe more exquisite with the Diesel Black Gold,” he said. “This is a commercial strategy.”
Though now branching into the luxury market, Mr. Rosso went on to remind the Transom that he is the first person who sold Americans on beat-up $100 denim (we scarcely remember life before it!). “Jeans like Ralph Lauren were like $52. We come here and we introduce a new way,” he said. “Our denim was full of defects. And also we spend a lot of money on the treatment. The treatment is sometimes two times more expensive than the fabrics and the manufacturing. Denim is the only fabric you can transform with the treatment. So denim for me is special, and very unique.”
It has formed the basis of his empire, which now includes 300 stores in 80 countries.
Still: “New York is the most fresh Fashion Week I think,” he said. “More younger, more up -coming. So this is why we’re here.”
Mr. Rosso’s show opened to the blaring notes of “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran, with a mock-galley of black-clad photographers stacked at the head of the runway, directly opposite the real photographers, who gathered at the end. None of the models looked like they’d slept in a week, though this was surely on purpose—one man in particular had the look of a nerd on a 48-hour bender, in black-rimmed glasses and a rumpled suit with shirt un-tucked.
The clothing was drapey, androgynous, occasionally sparkly, mostly worn with hoodie sweatshirts or cool jackets and—this is a luxury line, mind you!—black fur trim. Watching front-row were heiress and model Lydia Hearst, actress Brittany Murphy, and crooner Ryan Adams, the victim of a recent public heartbreak, who clasped his hands together over crossed legs and absorbed the proceedings from behind sunglasses.
