Belgian Tom Van der Borght, designer of clothing made from recycled materials “which nobody wants” and which must be “dared to wear”, won the Fashion Grand Prize on Sunday at the international festival in Hyères (south of France).
Colorful and zany, multiplying the ornaments that move like mollusks or antennae, this collection seduced the jury and the public of the city of Hyères, for this 35th edition of the oldest fashion competition, which serves as a springboard for young designers. “I want to find a new definition of luxury. We are used to classic luxury materials like gold or leather. I really like using things that others don’t find interesting,” Tom Van der told AFP. Borght, 42, creator and artist specializing in performance.
In his collection, a sweater in bright colors is made from plastic filaments used to display prices. A “sea leather” bag is made from fish skins recovered from the sushi industry. Macramé or patchwork, the techniques are classic, but his own luxury is to give a second life to pieces intended to be discarded. Like stocks of sequins that he buys from merchants in his neighborhood or samples of vegetable fur, which he made into an electric blue and yellow coat.
What about portability in all of this? “You can wear it if you dare to wear it,” says Tom Van der Borght. “The future of fashion is not to stay in a very restrictive and conformist box, it is time to free ourselves from all restrictions,” he said.
The fashion accessories jury’s grand prize went to the French Ddiddue and Juana Etcheberry. With a refined aesthetic opposite to the fashion winner, but in a similar approach, they make caps from objects “intended for landfill”.
“We intercept rubber boots, paragliding canvases, parachute basins, flower pots. We rework them by making topstitching (…) in a Japanese style, like old samurai fabrics”, explains to AFP Juana Etcheberry.
The duo, brother and sister in town, were also rewarded with the price of the luxury house Hermès, novelty of this season, for their graphic leather bracelet, surrounded by levitating metal rings that they wanted to both “protective and ventilated”. On the accessories side again, the Franco-Syrian Oubadah Nouktah wins the audience’s prize, while the special jury prize goes to the French Antonin Mongin, Florian Dach & Dimitri Zephir.
For the other prizes, let us note the French Marvin M Toumo and Emma Bruschi, who respectively win the Chloé Prize and the 19M Prize for Chanel Crafts. On the photography side, the chinois Guanyu Xu won the jury prize, and the Hungarian Andras Ladocsi the American Vintage prize, while the audience prize in this area was awarded to the Dutch Dustin Thierry.
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