Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collections: An invigorated avant garde

Guardian Nigeria

Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collections

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00:00How do you feel?

00:04Proud. I'm proud of Kevin.

00:07It's always great to see him having fun and following his instincts.

00:10So yeah, I'm very proud of my friend Kevin.

00:25The Kevin in question, Kevin Germainier,

00:28the young Swiss designer presenting his summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection.

00:33Germainier is the king of upcycling.

00:36He breathes new life into everything from rolls of wrapping ribbon to VHS tape,

00:40and was responsible for the costumes at the Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony.

00:52It changed my life as a professional experience and also just a human one.

00:56It was just so real.

00:58And it's funny because there's a part of it walking behind me right now.

01:01I took things from the Olympic ceremony and put them in this collection.

01:04Yeah, I took parts of Aminosh's piano performance.

01:07We had two or three bits of fabric that we were maybe going to put on the ground during the closing ceremony.

01:11And in the end, they weren't used, so we picked them up and made a dress out of them.

01:18He creates beauty. He comes up with new shapes.

01:20I think that's what gets me the most excited.

01:23He uses our bodies in general differently.

01:26He uses them differently. He takes us somewhere else.

01:29It's also about calling on the imagination.

01:32It's not just about beauty or style. It's poetry, narration.

01:35There you go. It's about creating something miraculous.

01:40Another groundbreaking designer called upon by director Thomas Joly for the Olympic Games

01:45was Victor Vainsanto, whose work appeared at the opening ceremony.

01:49Vainsanto too has an eternal fascination with the world of drag.

01:58Yes, I think that drag is in itself political.

02:01I think that still today, a man dressing as a woman is one of the boldest forms of revenge against or betrayal of the patriarchy.

02:10But honestly, the point is just to make people laugh and to de-dramatize certain things.

02:20Yes, drag is fundamentally political.

02:24It's about questioning gender norms, the norms that exist in society,

02:28but always in a spirit of joy and always in dialogue with the public.

02:32We try to educate a bit, to share the reality of our existences, because there are many of them.

02:38That's why drag is political.

02:41When you see shows like Drag Race, it really helps people to understand that it's normal,

02:45that there's nothing, that it's not an illness.

02:48And I also think a lot about parents.

02:50We've heard a lot from parents who watch the show with their children.

02:53It's taught parents a lot about the community, and also the fact that, yeah, for example,

02:57people can really make a career out of drag.

02:59Being gay isn't the same as being a drag queen.

03:01People often make that mistake, and I think that today,

03:05that's starting to become a bit clearer for people.

03:10Third up in today's roll call of young dynamic designers, Vincent Précyat.

03:15His looks are all about architectural shapes and strong shoulders,

03:19a form of protection for bodies that are all too often vulnerable.

03:26Well, today, I can't tell you all the warriors.

03:29Today, well, I won't talk you through all the wars there are in the world,

03:32the economic crisis, everything else that's going on.

03:35But life's very complicated for a lot of people, a lot of us.

03:38We're living through very challenging times,

03:40and we're thinking about how to interact, how to live.

03:43So there you go.

03:44This mise-en-scene has to do a bit with all of that.

03:47A ready-to-wear collection, it doesn't just come out of nowhere.

03:51I'm only interested in exercising my freedom.

03:55I'm only interested in existential questions,

03:57everything to do with gypsy and traveler cultures.

03:59I've always worked with people who work in the circus or that sort of milieu,

04:03and I've always loved how freely they speak, how freely they live,

04:06their ability to leave, to not work, just to feel and appreciate energy.

04:10And that's what I'm showing here.

04:15How would you describe this look?

04:17I'd say it's very well thought out because of the movement.

04:20In fact, as soon as you start walking,

04:22the skirt moves and the zips reflect the light.

04:24You have the shoulder pads that are one of Preciat's signature looks.

04:28The material is wonderful.

04:29There's a rawness there.

04:30The edges are cut roughly.

04:32It's very beautiful.

04:34For me, it's almost as if it's already vintage, already classic.

04:37It's already part of a wardrobe that we need.

04:42And last up, another advocate of upcycling,

04:45Swedish designer Ellen Hoddekova-Larsen.

04:48This year, she won an award for her work

04:51This year, she won the prestigious LVMH Prize,

04:54pocketing a cool 400,000 euros.

04:57She works in Stockholm.

04:59I think it's important to just value this way of working creatively

05:06and just being free in this way

05:08because it gives so much joy to the process of being

05:14and searching for surprises all the time.

05:18But also, I'm so thankful to be able to do this

05:22and that it's a good time in the world.

05:25The industry is moving forward.

05:28So much changes.

05:30This is just one way of changing the mass-producing behavior

05:37and what we are consuming.

05:39There will be many solutions,

05:41but this is one option, I would say.

05:48It seems that fashion's avant-garde is at its most creative

05:53when it looks to the outside world for inspiration.

06:00In the United States, first- and second-generation immigrants

06:04have historically voted for the Democratic Party.

06:07However, more and more are joining the ranks of Donald Trump's Republicans.

06:12The Republican Party, they don't make race an object.

06:17I think that there are a lot of diverse people inside of that party

06:21that focus more on the value that they add

06:24and what they provide to society.

06:27These conservative and often religious values

06:30are seen by voters as a bastion against communist ideology.

06:34I grew up in a country that was destroyed by socialism.

06:39From Miami to Houston,

06:41we explore the growing Republican vote among immigrants.

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