This Monday evening, 7 p.m.
Under the last rays of a blazing sun, a crowd gathers in front of the doors of the Drouot auction house (Paris 9th).
They are young, ultra-stylish, in sneakers signed Virgil Abloh and designer pieces, or older and more soberly dressed.
Among them, some famous faces, like Joey Starr and Thomas Ngijol.
All these little people meet that evening to attend the Renaissance parade. A non-profit association, founded by Philippe Guilet, formerly of Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier. In this new adventure, the stylist has given himself a major mission: to teach creation to apprentice couturiers in reintegration. The goal? That the 17 participants in the project, recruited on file with the only prerequisite being knowing how to sew, learn “luxury upcycling”, a method he himself developed. This season, they are called Latifa, Ousmane, Laurent, Angela, Malika, Ahmad, Nadejda, Moubarik, Sylla, Angela, Boubacar, Anour, Sabhia, Petirnat, Louise and Billy, and have worked on this collection for six months. With the goal of then being able to apply in the biggest fashion houses,with a first experience in the industry.
Two dresses from the Renaissance Renaissance collection
More than recycling, the result is a real recovery of existing clothes, ennobled by the hours of meticulous work in the workshop of the city of Vercors in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne).
As the silhouettes progress, we discover how Hermès tuxedo pants, lined with fuchsia fabric, can experience a second life as a skirt, or how a Gaultier skirt has been reinvented as a strapless dress.
Hilditch & Key shirts are diverted to make a feminine top.
“
We asked men to empty their wardrobes to dress women and vice versa, because we advocate gender acceptance without exception,
” explains Philippe Guilet.
That's not all: even everyday objects are reused, like these recycled medicine boxes to create ornaments in the shape of insects, then affixed to a top.
Or these inner tubes recovered from Vélib 'by the young IFM graduate Marco Ward, who transformed them into spectacular woven dresses, worn close to the body.
A head jewel, made by the Tané Renaissance school
Because the association has also approached partners, chosen for their know-how. The embroidery students of the Indian Institute Kalhath thus lent a hand to the trainees for this art which requires thoroughness and talent. The painter Eduardo Guelfenbein has customized clothes and bags. Frédéric Robert, founder of ME.LAND, put on the models of his eco-responsible sneakers, while the students of the Tané jewelry and goldsmith school in Ploërmel (Brittany) made spectacular head jewelry, like this kind. crown in shape of solar system.
Heardly applauded as the silhouettes passed, this parade in front of a full house thrilled the public. A sign that, if Renaissance is a project remarkably anchored in the spirit of the times and with an undeniably positive social impact, it is also a real fashion proposition, with boundless creativity.