Y/PROJECT

Y/PROJECT was a Paris-based fashion label founded in 2010 by French designer Yohan Serfaty and businessman Gilles Elalouf. It began as an avant-garde menswear project, with Serfaty's early collections built around elongated architectural silhouettes, dark outerwear and a severe, dystopian visual language. The label's identity changed substantially after Serfaty died of cancer in 2013. Gilles Elalouf subsequently appointed Belgian designer Glenn Martens, who had worked as Serfaty's first assistant, as creative director. Under Martens, Y/PROJECT expanded beyond its original menswear focus into womenswear and developed a distinctive approach to deconstruction, proportion and styling. Rather than treating garments as fixed objects with a single prescribed way of being worn, the brand frequently designed pieces that could be twisted, layered, opened, wrapped or otherwise reconfigured. Its collections became associated with exaggerated shoulders and volumes, asymmetrical construction, trompe-l'œil effects, hybrid garments, manipulated denim and unconventional interpretations of familiar Parisian wardrobe staples. The label's gender-fluid approach was central to its appeal. Menswear and womenswear shared design ideas, silhouettes and styling codes, while individual pieces were often presented as adaptable across bodies and wardrobes. This flexibility, combined with highly visible construction details, gave Y/PROJECT a recognizable position within contemporary luxury fashion: intellectual and technically experimental, but also playful, provocative and highly photogenic. During Martens's tenure, Y/PROJECT became an influential independent label in the international fashion system. Its distorted proportions and modular garments were frequently discussed in relation to the broader movement toward more eccentric, deconstructed and Y2K-inflected dressing. The brand's designs also suited the image-driven environment of social media, where surreal silhouettes, unexpected layering and garments with multiple wearing options could be rapidly circulated and reinterpreted. Y/PROJECT remained a relatively small and independent fashion business rather than becoming a large luxury conglomerate brand. Its influence was therefore driven more by design visibility and critical conversation than by mass distribution. The label was particularly recognized for making experimental construction legible through recognizable categories such as denim, outerwear, tailoring, knitwear and dresses. Following Gilles Elalouf's death in 2024, Martens departed and the company entered court-supervised receivership. The business was unable to secure a buyer. In January 2025, Y/PROJECT announced that it would cease operations after fourteen years, citing financial difficulties and the failure to complete a sale. The closure ended the label's operating life but left a notable design legacy associated with gender-fluid dressing, multi-way garments, exaggerated proportions and a deliberately surreal interpretation of Parisian fashion.

Y/PROJECT was established in Paris in 2010 by French designer Yohan Serfaty and businessman Gilles Elalouf. The business initially operated as an avant-garde menswear project. Serfaty's early work emphasized elongated and architectural shapes, sombre outerwear and an austere, dystopian mood. These collections gave the label an experimental identity from its beginning, distinguishing it from more conventional contemporary menswear brands. Serfaty died of cancer in 2013. After his death, Elalouf appointed Glenn Martens as creative director. Martens had been Serfaty's first assistant, giving him a direct connection to the label's original design language while also enabling a substantial evolution of the business. Under Martens, Y/PROJECT broadened its scope to include womenswear and developed a more expansive vocabulary of deconstruction, proportion and transformation. The Martens era made Y/PROJECT known for garments that challenged the conventional relationship between clothing and the body. Tailored pieces could be enlarged, twisted or layered; denim could be manipulated into trompe-l'œil or hybrid forms; and familiar wardrobe items could be reconfigured into garments with several possible methods of wear. The label's collections often blurred distinctions between menswear and womenswear, supporting a gender-fluid approach in which silhouettes, styling and product categories circulated across traditional market boundaries. Y/PROJECT's influence came from the combination of technical experimentation and recognizable fashion references. Its designs frequently began with familiar categories—jeans, jackets, shirts, dresses, skirts or coats—but altered their proportions, construction or wearing method. This made the label's work immediately identifiable while preserving a sense of conceptual play. Exaggerated shapes and unusual layering also gave the clothing strong editorial and social-media visibility. During the 2010s and early 2020s, Y/PROJECT became an influential independent label within the international fashion conversation. Its multi-way garments, distorted denim, hybrid constructions and deliberately eccentric silhouettes were associated with the broader revival of experimental and Y2K-inflected dressing. The label was frequently understood as part of a shift toward more expressive, less restrained fashion in which garments could be transformed and interpreted by the wearer rather than presented as static luxury objects. The company remained relatively small and independent. Its significance was primarily cultural and design-led rather than based on the scale of a multinational luxury group. This independence allowed the label to sustain a distinctive visual identity, but it also left the business exposed to financial and ownership pressures. After Gilles Elalouf died in 2024 and Glenn Martens subsequently departed, Y/PROJECT entered court-supervised receivership. The company failed to secure a buyer, and in January 2025 it announced that it would cease operations because of financial difficulties and the inability to complete a sale. The closure concluded fourteen years of activity and left behind a legacy of avant-garde tailoring, gender-fluid styling, modular garments and intentionally distorted Parisian dressing.

• 2025

  Y/PROJECT ceases operations

  [1]Y/Projecten.wikipedia.org

  In January, the label announces that it will close after fourteen years because of financial difficulties and the failure to complete a sale.

• 2024

  The company enters court-supervised receivership

  [1]Y/Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Following Gilles Elalouf's death and Glenn Martens's departure, the business seeks a buyer while operating under court-supervised receivership.

• 2013

  Glenn Martens becomes creative director

  [1]Y/Projecten.wikipedia.org

  After Yohan Serfaty's death, Glenn Martens, who had served as Serfaty's first assistant, takes over the label's creative direction.

• 2013

  The label expands into womenswear

  [1]Y/Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Under Martens, Y/PROJECT broadens its offer beyond its original menswear focus and develops a shared, gender-fluid design language.

• 2010

  Y/PROJECT is founded in Paris

  [1]Y/Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Yohan Serfaty and Gilles Elalouf establish Y/PROJECT as an avant-garde menswear project.

An independent Paris-based avant-garde fashion label positioned around experimental construction, gender-fluid dressing, exaggerated proportions and reworked luxury wardrobe staples.

• Fashion · 2010

  Ready-to-wear

  Y/PROJECT's ready-to-wear collections combined recognizable wardrobe categories with experimental construction. The label used asymmetry, exaggerated volume, layered proportions and unconventional styling to produce clothing that could appear familiar at first glance but became more complex through closer inspection. Menswear and womenswear shared design concepts, supporting the brand's gender-fluid positioning.

• Apparel

  Denim

  Denim became one of Y/PROJECT's most recognizable categories, particularly through twisted constructions, trompe-l'œil treatments and unusual proportions. Rather than presenting jeans as basic five-pocket products, the label treated denim as a sculptural and transformable material. The resulting pieces could incorporate layered visual effects, altered seams or silhouettes that challenged conventional ideas of how denim should fit and be worn.

• Apparel

  Tailoring

  The brand's tailoring reinterpreted jackets, trousers and coordinated suits through distortion, layering and manipulated proportions. Traditional tailoring codes were retained as reference points but disrupted through enlarged shapes, asymmetrical details and hybrid constructions. This approach helped connect Y/PROJECT's avant-garde identity with the language of Parisian dressing and luxury fashion craftsmanship.

• Apparel · 2010

  Outerwear

  Outerwear was important to both the label's early dark aesthetic and its later experimental vocabulary. Coats, jackets and layered protective garments were used to create elongated, architectural or exaggerated silhouettes. Across the brand's history, outerwear provided a visible platform for volume, construction and the deliberately dramatic proportions associated with Y/PROJECT.

• Apparel · 2013

  Dresses, skirts and knitwear

  After the expansion into womenswear, Y/PROJECT developed dresses, skirts and knitwear within the same deconstructed and gender-fluid framework as its tailoring and denim. These products often emphasized wrapping, layering, unusual drape and convertible styling. They extended the label's approach to garments that could be worn in more than one way or interpreted differently according to the wearer.

• 2025

  Y/PROJECT announces closureOther

  Background

  The sale process did not produce a buyer and the business faced financial difficulties.

  Action taken

  The label announced in January that it would cease operations after fourteen years.

  Aftermath

  Y/PROJECT's operating business ended, leaving its design influence as its principal continuing legacy.

  Source

• 2024

  The company seeks a buyer under receivershipM&A

  Background

  After Gilles Elalouf's death and Glenn Martens's departure, the company faced a major ownership and leadership transition.

  Action taken

  Y/PROJECT entered court-supervised receivership and pursued a sale of the business.

  Aftermath

  No buyer was secured, and the label later announced that it would cease operations.

  Source

• 2013

  Creative leadership passes to Glenn MartensStrategy

  Background

  Yohan Serfaty died of cancer in 2013, creating a transition point for the young label.

  Action taken

  Gilles Elalouf appointed Glenn Martens, previously Serfaty's first assistant, as creative director.

  Aftermath

  The label expanded into womenswear and became associated with deconstructed, gender-fluid and multi-way clothing.

  Source

1. 1Y/Projecten.wikipedia.org