After celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his fashion house during New York Fashion Week in September, Ronald van der Kemp was back in Paris. His one-off New York show was an energetic homage to the city where he cut his teeth for eight years. But having presented his upcycled couture collections during couture week since 2016, the designer should never doubt that he belongs here.
Paris fashion from the 1970s and ’80s is arguably RVDK’s north star more than any influence, while his incomparable supply of lavish vintage and surplus fabrics and embellishments continues to determine each fabulous creation. “Every outfit always stands on its own,” he said backstage, surrounded by his models who looked ready to attend a pageant involving some combination of royal, pagan and surrealist traditions—a veritable panoply of panache!
RVDK’s eclecticism can feel inherently upbeat owing to the ever-shifting array of colors, collage and craft, yet van der Kemp leaned into an optimistic headspace even more this season, calling the collection, “Let the Sun Shine In.” The theme extended to the setting, as guests passed through a courtyard filled with machine-produced haze to enter the Dutch ambassador’s residence where the show began with “La Reine Soleil” (The Sun Queen), a tiered mermaid gown in lustrous jacquards and golden silk that shot up like sun rays from the neckline. It was the first of four looks (see also the final gown with its swirling forms) that benefited from Thai silks sourced from a fabric archive, which van der Kemp worked on with model Thayna Soares. But the line-up showcased vastly different articulations of resourcefulness: a black puffed sleeve sweater in braided leather remnants; a slinky checkerboard-patterned skirt from a Kuba wall hanging; an Ottoman silk jacket with dimensional “tusks” outlining folkloric embroidery and another sun expression, this time as an illustrated bustier cut from a boat flag studded with chains and charms.
Clients might be tempted to cherry-pick individual pieces that would animate their existing wardrobe but the magic of RVDK can be found in the total look—a chic and sultry tuxedo whose “puzzle” construction is just a tad off, or a hint of naïveté emanating from the placement of fabric strips that yield a gown of more motifs than a Matisse interior. Let’s see which celebrity calls dibs on the black coat boasting voluminous, wing-like smocked sleeves dotted with 3,000 beads and a cage-like visor. As the designer (wearing a T-shirt asking, “What makes you happy today?”) sets off on his next decade, this kind of futuristic aesthetic composed of materials from the past is surely reason to be optimistic.
