Last year there were several shakeups at some of the fashion industry's top fashion houses. Dries Van Noten retired (which we're still not over) and many designers played a still active game of musical chairs. Virginie Viard left Chanel and then Matthieu Blazy left Bottega Veneta to take over Chanel. Louise Trotter departed Carven to accept the Bottega Veneta gig. Alessandro Michele went to Valentino and Sarah Burton moved to Givenchy. Dizzy yet? Glenn Martens also bid adieu to Y/Project, possibly due to the label's financial strain, but the brand was hoping to find a buyer to keep the line going.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Y/Project just announced that it's officially closing after being unable to secure a buyer. The house released a statement on Instagram.
"It is with great gratitude and sadness that the Y/PROJECT team announces we will be officially closing the brand after 14 incredible years. We could not have achieved such success without the unwavering support of our Y/P partners, collaborators, and fans and we cannot extend enough thanks to you all for your unwavering dedication throughout the years."
It's a shame really since Martens helped the brand reach new levels of success. There was the ANDAM Grand Prize in 2017 and the label made it to the final stage of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers in 2016. Perhaps if Martens was part of a package deal Y/Project would have kept on going.
In memoriam of both the brand and its late cofounder Gilles Elalouf, some of its most noteworthy archival looks will be donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Palais Galliera, the MoMu fashion museum in Antwerp, the fashion museum of Paris and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
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