RVDK Ronald van der Kemp’s “Wardrobe 24: Vive l’Art”: Transforming Yesterday’s Excess into Tomorrow’s Couture

rvdk wardrobe24 look 01 — Courtesy of RVDK Ronald van der Kemp

On July 7, Dutch couture house RVDK Ronald van der Kemp unveiled its latest collection, “Wardrobe 24: Vive l’Art,” during Paris Haute Couture Week.

A pioneer of upcycled haute couture, Ronald van der Kemp describes each collection not as a “season,” but as a “wardrobe.” The distinction reflects his belief that clothing should not be consumed and discarded according to a fashion calendar, but lived in, cherished, and passed on over time.

The collection’s show notes opened with a sequence of words that read almost like a poem:

“It begins at the surface. It continues beneath it. Beauty. Realness. Make. Break. Transform. Happy accidents.”

The looks were assembled from luxury surplus, rescued skins, forgotten treasures, and high-tech innovation. In the house’s own words, the collection turned “yesterday’s excess” into “tomorrow’s couture.”

Courtesy of RVDK Ronald van der Kemp

Summary

“Wardrobe 24: Vive l’Art” was presented on July 7 during Paris Couture Week
Surplus textiles, rescued leather, and deadstock embellishments were transformed into what the house calls “tomorrow’s couture”
Clashing prints, vivid color, metallics, denim, and sharp tailoring were combined with expressive freedom
Womenswear and menswear appeared side by side, reflecting the diversity of a real wardrobe
The house debuted “RVDK Art Jewellery,” created using 3D-printed recycled filament

Couture That Begins with the Material

For RVDK, sustainability has never been a limitation imposed on design. It is the source of the design itself.

Rather than beginning with a fully formed idea and searching for the right material to realize it, Ronald van der Kemp starts with what already exists: surplus fabrics, rescued leather, deadstock beads, and forgotten fragments. Their colors, textures, imperfections, and histories guide the silhouette.

As a result, each piece retains visible traces of time and craftsmanship. Irregularities and unexpected combinations are not concealed, but embraced as “happy accidents” and incorporated into the design.

A long coat in red, cobalt blue, green, and gold layered contrasting textures and patterns in a patchwork-like composition, while sculpted shoulders and a dramatically tilted hat amplified its theatrical presence. Elsewhere, a black tailored gown was animated by colorful three-dimensional embroidery around the shoulders, concentrating expressive decoration within an otherwise restrained silhouette.

Vibrant floral gowns, asymmetrical evening dresses assembled from fragmented materials, metallic skirts, and sheer dresses constructed from strips of rescued leather all appeared within the same wardrobe. Though their origins differed, they coexisted with a sense of instinctive ease.

Between Beauty and Realness

The collection was not held together by a single silhouette or historical reference. Instead, its coherence came from the freedom with which different styles were combined.

Sharp tuxedo tailoring appeared alongside distressed denim, slip dresses, lingerie-like transparency, and body-conscious mini dresses. No hierarchy was imposed between classicism and streetwear, eveningwear and daywear, ornament and utility.

A sharply structured black jacket was paired with a simple midi skirt, while another look combined a sculptural blazer with relaxed painted denim and a checked tie. A cobalt blue coat shaped like an oversized bow was styled with worn-in jeans.

Menswear followed the same instinctive approach. Gold trousers were worn with a white shirt and bow tie, while a marbled draped shirt was paired with loosely woven trousers and a soft gold bag. Formality and improvisation moved fluidly across the collection.

What emerged was not an idealized archetype, but a portrait of how people actually dress: mixing old and new, precious and rough, layering pieces according to personal instinct. RVDK proposed not the perfection of a single garment, but the elegance created through combination.

The Debut of RVDK Art Jewellery

This season also marked the debut of “RVDK Art Jewellery.”

Comprising hair jewellery, mobiles, moving sculptures, brooches, and pins, the pieces were conceived as “collaged wearable artworks.” Each was made using 3D-printed recycled filament, then embellished with leftover beads and found objects before being painted and lacquered.

The sculptural pieces were pinned into swept-up hair, attached to jacket lapels, and placed across the bodices of dresses. Moving with the body and catching the light, they appeared less like conventional accessories than miniature works of kinetic art.

Materials destined for disposal were given renewed value through the maker’s eye and hand. In this sense, RVDK Art Jewellery offered the most literal expression of the collection’s central idea.

From Yesterday’s Excess to Tomorrow’s Couture

At a couture week often measured by spectacle and scale, RVDK offered a different vision of luxury.

“Wardrobe 24: Vive l’Art” was not a lecture on sustainability. It demonstrated, through the clothes themselves, that materials already in existence can still produce couture that feels rich, exuberant, and entirely contemporary.

The finish was deliberately left slightly unresolved, allowing unexpected encounters between materials and subtle imbalances to remain visible. Yet it was precisely this refusal of uniform perfection that gave the clothes their vitality.

By defining clothing not as a season to be replaced, but as a wardrobe that grows over time, Ronald van der Kemp asks a larger question about the purpose of couture.

The point is not simply to make fashion look new.

It is to reveal how much beauty already exists, waiting to be seen, reworked, and lived in again.

“Wardrobe 24: Vive l’Art” offered a vivid and liberated answer.