Last fortnight we celebrated Nicola Formichetti’s first collection as artistic director of Diesel. We’ve shared exclusive campaign images as shot by Nick Knight, delved deeper into the collection with a dA-Zed guide to denim, and revealed Formichetti’s teen idol mix tape. To round off the celebration we threw an exclusive Dazed Diesel party…

“We know high fashion, we know street. I want it to become its own thing.” Nicola Formichetti freely admits his debut collection for Diesel is like no other the brand has produced. Stood outside the Dazed party celebrating the Diesel Tribute launch, Formichetti wears the collection’s sleeveless jacket, peppered so heavily with badges, patches and studs, the denim is barely visible. “It’s going to be a game changer.”

“I think if you believe in something, you should just do it.”

Inside the party the collection pieces hang like artworks on the brick walls of the Hoxton Gallery. Pinned to denim canvases, the collars and studs are barely visible over the crowd. Formichetti’s penchant for the extreme and outrageous culminates in a live performance by rapper (once stripper) Brooke Candy.  

The Diesel Tribute campaign, shot by Nick Knight and his SHOWstudio team, pulsates on screens, which beam out to those on the streets. If the hand cut and hand crafted Diesel Tribute pieces are a symbol of Italian craftsmanship and the Diesel archive, then the solely social media campaign were very much the future.

We spoke to Formichetti while DJs Kim Ann Foxman and Nova Dando played to a heaving crowd, and the bar ran dry of vodka. “I think if you believe in something, you should just do it.”