Diesel Black Gold shifted into the light for SS16 with a reworked palette and loose fits.

Rule maker, rule breaker

The great thing about a label like Diesel Black Gold is how they come up with new ideas that work within their own brand-defining parameters. Leather, grommets, rock-and-roll: Diesel’s aesthetic vocabulary is so strong that one wonders how Creative Director Andreas Melbostad could rework it all even once, let alone season after season. Yet still, he does, and this season he threw in a few surprises.

Variations on a theme

Of course, although it’s still about that punk edge in the end, SS16 saw the typically all-black palette expand to lighter territory. A notable shift to the introduction of white and blue resulted several light blue-and-white striped pieces that one would more readily have expected at Ralph Lauren than a brand priding itself on it’s rebel-luxe style. One highlight featured a royal blue satin minidress paired with a matching short-sleeved suede jacket, reigned into the Diesel aesthetic with braided grommets along the sleeves and collar – a perfect balance of new and familiar. Grommeted utilitarian bands throughout functioned as straps on dresses and overalls, while leather pieces featured embroidered Wild West-style stars.

Fair and square

But the real star of the collection was the fabrics, which featured geometric cutout embroidery on midriff panels and full looks. Squares and hexagons formed patterns on loose-fitting dresses, pants, and jackets, upping the ante in the refinement department while revealing skin beneath, elegant and sexy at once – exactly what we’ve come to expect, and a little more.

Words: R.J. Hernández