Until this past July, Kévin Gemanier’s outre glamourous upcycled designs were mainly known to fashion insiders and the clients they attract. When he was tapped to outfit over 100 dancers for the Paris Olympics closing ceremony futuristic acrobatic global romp to signify the unity of the games, this all but changed mainly due to its aerial central character dubbed the “Golden Voyager,” which was based on the seminal golden records that were onboard the 1977 Voyager spacecraft.
Thus, during the most recent Paris Haute Couture shows, the Swiss designer was invited to show his Spring Summer 2025 collection entitled Les Globuleuses along the established Haute Couture maisons despite being regarded as an RTW designer. Considering the elaborate nature of his designs, he works with artisans from countries such as the Philippines, Kazakhstan, India, and Gustavo Silvestre in Brazil. The designer is also known for making ‘treasure out of trash’—or more aptly, overstock, deadstock, and other various forms of designer-level materials—for his creations
For this outing, the designer imagined a typical Bourgeoise housewife controlled by her quest for perfection. Thus, the opening look, a proper red fitted skirt (with a Germanier touch, a thick raffia fringe hemline), was the starting point for the woman this season whom he suggested could be Marcia Cross’s “Desperate Housewives” Bree Van der Kemp or another fiction character, a Stepford Wife.
In Germanier’s mind, this woman swallows a pearl that begins a psychedelic metamorphosis and ends up the proverbial changed-being swan by show’s end. In between was a display not only of his imagination but of his technical prowess.
For reality, there was colorful knitwear as a dress suit, tailored embellished jacket styles, and an adorable hot pink ensemble festooned with sequins and beads that, if broken apart and paired with denim, would be a perfect outfit for mom’s daily tasks. There were a few men’s looks, proving that the Mr. in this lady’s life is more than mere accessory.
The collection and techniques got more intricate from there on; the knits became metallic ruffled styles, string beading became its own piece of fabric, and the acetate raffia became more outrageous. One style, in particular, was done in conjunction with Swiss colored pencil company Caran d’Arche and was a fantastical creation of colorful plastic beading and a myriad of stylos and crayons.
Completing her metamorphosis was the finale of three dresses that formed a glamorous porcupine ball shape made from tinsel-like plumage. The last one in white was a magnificent woman who may have experienced their own transformation that encapsulated the designer’s vision of how beautiful change can be.
Read the full article here