This hen’s name is Nina (top, center). I was visiting a friend last November in the Canary Islands – a place made for hiking and forgetting about fashion – and the hen befriended me. Wherever I went, he would come and sit on my lap. My mother died in September. another reason I had to log off urgently. Years ago, it got together a cute baby album (above, right). My parents, who divorced when I was very young, called me Apple – I was strawberry blonde and had huge red cheeks. My older brother, Philippe, and I were raised in Belgium partly by my conservative but always supportive maternal grandparents. For Y/Project Spring 2017 Campaign (above, left) [Martens, 40, has been the French brand’s creative director since 2013], we decided to shoot in Bruges with only my family and childhood friends as models. I never expected my grandfather André Arnalsteen – someone who volunteered to fight in World War II when he was 18 – to say, “Of course, with pleasure.” My grandfather on my dad’s side, Michel Martens, was a mirror artist. He died a long time ago, but me this piece of (below, right) in my apartment in Paris. In the 90s, my grandparents took me to a retrospective [the 15th-century Flemish painter] Hans Memling (bottom, center right). I remember being completely blown away by the colors on the canvas. the detail you find in every square centimeter is ridiculous. You can see the hairs of the velors.
The charms on this necklace (above, left) they all have little anecdotes. The heart came from my best friend, Annabelle. At her birthday party one year, we danced at 4 a.m. In my drunken state, I left her on the corner of the kitchen table — she chipped half of her front tooth. Luckily, I was dating a dentist at the time. For my 40th birthday last April, he gave me a gold heart locket with the top of the tooth stuck inside. About five years ago I read [the novelist Reinaldo Arenas’s 1992 autobiography] “Before night falls” (above, center left) and it became an obsession. He grew up in rural Cuba in the 40s and 50s and eventually made it to New York. He died during the AIDS epidemic. Before that, he had lived many rich lives full of passion and love.
I hate snakes (top, center), but I am fascinated by their beauty. This [from Y/Project’s spring 2024 collection] it was 3-D printed and then we painted it. Y/Project is all about sneaky construction. No one really knows how a garment stays upright, and the movement of the snake suggests this. [The Italian denim label] Diesel [where Martens has been the creative director since 2020] it’s the opposite because it’s an active lifestyle brand. creativity is more based on fabric manipulation. This spring 2024 Diesel look (above, left) it is made of cotton jersey bonded to polyester tulle. When you apply a treatment to it, the natural fibers dissolve – the black part burns off – but the synthetic fiber remains. It’s about having fun and not being too precious. I bought this shirt (above, right) from a Gap in Atlanta when I was 16. I have relatives who live there. It was amazing for a little Belgian boy to suddenly find himself in American malls with a cheerleader cousin named Brittany. I’ve been wearing it every summer since.
This interview has been edited and condensed.