Ronald van der Kemp - Upcycling Couture

Jewellery made from plastic bottles, a jacket that feels like a marquetry piece made from a thousand and one colour samples embroidered on duchesse satin. Conceived by Ronald van der Kemp, these creations – each like a rendezvous with memory – were being assembled by his team before the show held at the Dutch Ambassador’s Residence. Titled “Let the sunshine in,” the collection proved a promise of light, reflected in the ‘Reine de Soleil,’ the opening look that comprised a sheath with multiple gold stripes, followed by a velvet coat with monkey embroidery – these animal figures carved in relief – or else an Irish jumper all in black leather braids.

“I moved my studio into a former prison. Since then, I've felt liberated,” says this Amsterdam-based dada Dutchman, an ethical baroque. A Bill Blass alumnus, founder of a think tank on positivity in dark times, dresser to Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, he has even created an eco-responsible perfume, “The Mind Vaccine.” 

Exactly ten years after his debut on the Official Calendar of Haute Couture Week, he set himself the challenge of offering “a wardrobe rather than a collection.” Each model (27 in all) is a personality in itself, able to dramatise each appearance. Pieces of precious leather “destined to be thrown away” are assembled by fairy hands, silk strands form a trompe-l'oeil of an elephant's tusk, and other pieces snake around an extraordinary sheath. Time stands still, the moment exults, like the straw panel found in New York, whose holes have been filled by fluorescent squares. A cut-out flag became a sun; a boat canvas morphed into a skirt; a bolero spread its butterfly wings. The euphoria unfolds, masterfully captured in the infinite silence of the craft.