"The fashion world likes everything to be slick, but I'm a bit like Dr Frankenstein, experimenting all the time with little bits and bobs," said Kevin Germanier, the young Swiss designer who created the Golden Voyager costume for the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
That glittering outfit was made from reels and reels of recycled video tape from his childhood, along with hundreds of Germanier's favourite plaything – pearls.
Even before his Olympic triumph, the 32-year-old was already a darling of the fashion front rows for his playful, retro style and mastery of haute couture's sparkly box of tricks.
But coming up with that costume for the dancer Arthur Cadre – and having to keep it all secret for nine months – was "the experience of a lifetime", Germanier said as he showed his Spring/Summer collection at Paris Fashion Week last week (Sept 24).
"It was the biggest platform I have ever been given," he said, still wide-eyed about it six weeks later.
Vogue hailed his otherworldly creation as "the most impressive costume of the ceremony", and the strange flying creature, part wasp, part mosquito, part firework, set social media alight.
Like many of his generation, Germanier has made upcycling – using offcuts, unused or unsold cloth – an article of faith, as much from conviction as financial necessity.
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Rubies in the dust
It all started for him when he was doing an internship in Hong Kong, with bags of pearls "that were too close to the window and had discoloured in the sun", he recalled.
"Upcycling is not about going to a vintage shop and doing something with a T-shirt, it's really about creating something from rubbish," he said.
This make-or-make-do attitude began early at his mother and grandmother's feet at home in the village of Granges in southern Switzerland, where they would "embroider a flower over a hole in their clothes rather than go buying something new".
Encouraged by his family, he landed a place at London's most prestigious fashion and design school, Central Saint Martins.
"All my work was either black, grey or beige," said the designer at that time, who has since made his name for his eye-poppingly colourful palette.
"Because I had nothing to lose in my last exam – I already had a job waiting at Louis Vuitton – I said to myself, 'You've got to make it glitter'."
And since then this Swiss who dresses head-to-toe in black has turned the colour up full tilt.
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'We're not trying to cure cancer'
"It's funny," he laughed. "It's important to have a sense of humour and be able to step back a bit in this job."
"We are not setting out to cure cancer. We make dresses with sequins and plumes."
Dresses now worn by Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, it turns out.
But Germanier can still send himself up, saying, "Like all Swiss I keep a close eye on the figures."
"Fashion is first of all a business, and you have to find the product that is going to sell like hot cakes... be that a perfume, a little bag or a scarf," he said.
His bestseller is a very pop little baguette bag in multi-coloured pearls.
But Germanier's ambitions extend far beyond accessories. Hired by fashion giant LVMH for a "secret" project to make the best of its waste, he dreams one day of taking the reins at a house like Dior, where "you can really change things".
But nor does he want to be typecast for transforming cast-offs into things of beauty, even if he gets a kick out of it.
"I don't know if it is my destiny, but as long as I am creating, it will be part of what I do. But if ever it becomes less fun, I will stop." – AFP
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