If you are going to leave a brand, go out with a bang, and Glenn Martens did exactly that. His last Diesel show wrapped six years of work, and he is now turning all that energy to Maison Margiela. Everything Diesel people love was there: disintegration, hybrids, pop, tension in the tailoring and a loose, unstructured release.

Backstage he said he was "so proud of everybody" and that he was leaving "a great platform" behind. The sense that everything was slowly peeling away ran through the whole show, and nothing carries that better than denim.

More than a third of the looks were denim, and the fabric work is the reason to pay attention. Some denim was coated and then lasered until it looked like leather, which I would love to see up close. A bootcut jean is the sensible way in, so I start with jeans.

The tailoring is where I felt the tension most. Tailoring and shirting looked twisted, caught up and partly undone, as if someone had started pulling them off the body and then stopped. Orchid-shaped cutaways seemed to eat into knits and polos, and foil-printed surfaces cracked open to show what looked like other garments underneath.

That is a hard feeling to turn into something you can wear, and I like that a biker jacket with rib-knit inserts, a nylon jacket with tonal taping and a plush-trimmed bomber do it in a calmer way. They hold a bit of the same rough energy without falling apart.

The floral bomber in crinkled acetate is the one that makes me grin. It is soft and strange in a very Diesel way.

About a third of the looks carried a bag, and the small top-handle shape in solarized denim, brown leather, black leather and patchwork leather says everything about how this brand plays with a classic. It is a polite shape dressed in rough fabrics, and I find that very Diesel.

Glasses or sunglasses showed up in about a quarter of the looks. Martens wore sunglasses indoors for the first time at one of his shows here, and I think that is a sly joke on the designer himself. Between the bags and the glasses, the accessories do the quiet talking while the clothes come apart around them.

The finale is what stays with me. A slow techno mix turned into a version of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby," while plants in the audience started making out with growing enthusiasm. Ella Snyder, who opened his first Diesel collection, closed this one too, and the crowd screamed as Martens took his final bow.

Martens really came good, and he leaves a team ready for what comes next. I would wear the bootcut jeans with the floral bomber and a pair of sunglasses indoors, just to keep the joke going.