Diesel's Uncomfortable B-Berny Belt-Skirt Sparks TikTok Backlash

Diesel's B-Berny belt-skirt, designed by Glenn Martens for the FW '22 collection, has gone viral on TikTok for its impracticality and high price of €795. The rigid faux-leather garment, featuring the brand's iconic 'D' buckle, is criticized for being impossible to sit or move in, and for its exclusivity to slim body types. The article contextualizes this within fashion history, citing uncomfortable trends like 18th-century fontange hairstyles that risked catching fire, high-starched dandy collars (Vatermörder) that could cause strangulation, and modern skinny jeans that restrict circulation. Caleb Warren, marketing professor at Colorado State University, notes that uncomfortable clothing often serves as a symbolic marker of cultural capital and elite belonging. The piece argues that fashion, unlike clothing, is not bound by practicality, and that discomfort can be a deliberate communicative tool.