Hong Kong Tatler – August 2019

STYLE / Fashion

50 hong kong tatler. august 2019

iews that

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esigners

mefrom

ool,such

Galliano,

o Tisci,

cCartney

y

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y studies

entral

you?

meand I

samples

vers,

sheetsandleftoverfabricsor

recycledfabricsfrommyflatmate’s

previous projects. That was really

how I started looking at upcycling.

Crafting A

New Path

Paris-based designer Kevin

Germanier is known for redefining

sustainable fashion by using only

upcycled materials. Here, he reveals

how a six-monthstintin HongKong

shaped his creativ

BY JUSTINE LEE

The fashion indus

gets a bad rapfor

wasting materials

a pressing issuet

Kevin Germanieris tacklingh

on. The Swiss-born,Paris-bas

designer creates high-octane,

unapologetically glamorous

dresses and separates—allof

which are made entirelyfrom

materials that otherwisewou

have been discarded. German

pieces are worn by celebrities

as Lady Gaga, Björk and K-po

sensation Sunmi—helpingto

push his particular brandoflu

sustainability into the spotlig

proving there’s far more toec

friendly fashion than organic

How did you get into fashio

I grew up in Switzerland ina

traditional family. It wasa ve

controlled environment whe

everything looked perfect.I s

my schooling in fashion atGe

School of Art and Designand,

unbeknown to my parents,I applied

to Central Saint Martins when I

was 20. It was after seven rounds of

intervi

Iwasfi

accepte

looked

lotofde

thatcam

thescho

asJohnG

Riccardo

Stella Mc

andMary

Katrantzo

wasecsta

parentsw

at firstwh

them,but

mego und

condition

financemy

there.

HowdidC

SaintMartinsinfluencey

It wasa rigorousprogramm

remembermakingmyfirst

ofgarments withduvetcov

head-

ed

m

uld

nier’s

ssuch

op

uxe

ht and

co-

linen.

on?

rather

ery

re

started

eneva

process

stry

t -year-

ne,

old

ead

The process was very organic; I was

broke and looked around to see what

materials I could repurpose.

How does restricting yourself to

upcycling materials affect the

design process?

I like being given restrictions

because I love rising to the challenge

and solving them. When I didn’t

have money to buy new fabrics or

materials, I would seek out discarded

materials, and working within these

limitations became the starting point

for my creative process. That said,

there are also a lot of difficulties

I encounter when it comes to

production; it was very hard to

find resources and to make sure we

had enough fabrics. But I’m a very

optimistic person, I don’t like making

excuses, and there’s always a way to

make it work.

After winning the Hong Kong-

based EcoChic Design Award in

2015 (now known as the Redressed

Award), you spent six months in

the city for a work placement. Did

Hong Kong inspire you?