Les Mons­trueuses: upcyc­ling as a creat­ive and circu­lar prac­tice

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The collapse of the Rana Plaza build­ing in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2013, combined with grow­ing aware­ness of the pollu­tion gener­ated by the textile industry, revealed the need to thor­oughly re-exam­ine the fash­ion produc­tion and distri­bu­tion system. In this context, upcyc­ling is now reem­er­ging as a way forward, no longer as a discreet act of repair, but as a bold and confid­ent stance. Waste, often considered monstrous, is becom­ing a valued commod­ity, a vehicle for new forms and prac­tices.

This revalu­ation of the resid­ual opens the way to a bold artistic approach. Through visu­ally iden­ti­fi­able pieces, Kévin Germanier devel­ops a unique formal language. Far from impro­visa­tion, his approach is based on rigor­ous atten­tion to mater­i­als. The constraints asso­ci­ated with their recov­ery become a driver of innov­a­tion, while integ­rat­ing sustain­ab­il­ity imper­at­ives from the design stage of each garment.
Kévin Germani­er’s work is based on a logic of reuse, draw­ing on dormant stocks and mater­i­als that have already been produced to create new pieces. The compon­ents used are often original, and their trans­form­a­tion is the result of the work of differ­ent people. Several of the dresses on display were made from iconic textiles, includ­ing knit­wear pieces made by knit­ters from Valais, as well as by artis­ans from differ­ent coun­tries using ethical meth­ods. This diversity high­lights the wealth of local and inter­na­tional expert­ise that has been brought to bear.

In the German­stein room, a textile chimera brings together the mater­i­als most repres­ent­at­ive of the design­er’s work: surplus beads, discarded sequins, recycled fibers, unsold textiles, and collec­ted frag­ments. Movable stain­less steel elements allow visit­ors to come into direct contact with the textures of the Germain­ier collec­tions, reveal­ing the range of resources used and their poten­tial for trans­form­a­tion. This work­shop is not the ideal­ized place often asso­ci­ated with Haute Couture, but a constantly evolving labor­at­ory where research can be seen and touched.

Beyond formal and aesthetic exper­i­ment­a­tion, Kévin Germani­er’s approach also has a social dimen­sion. Some collab­or­a­tions are part of rein­teg­ra­tion initi­at­ives based on tech­nical and creat­ive skills related to cloth­ing design. By promot­ing forms of produc­tion often asso­ci­ated with indus­trial contexts or foreign econom­ies, the exhib­i­tion decon­structs certain precon­cep­tions linked to fast fash­ion and reminds us that artis­anal manu­fac­tur­ing that respects human rights can extend beyond European borders, provided that the produc­tion chan­nels for each element used are controlled.

In order to limit waste, recycled, borrowed, or rented mater­i­als were prior­it­ized for the sceno­graphy. This approach is part of mudac’s commit­ment to sustain­ab­il­ity and aims for almost total circu­lar­ity, achiev­ing nearly 95% in the context of this exhib­i­tion, in line with the Germa­nier brand.
In the first room, the collec­tions are presen­ted in a space designed using mater­i­als asso­ci­ated with the world of fash­ion. The mannequins are rented, the mirrors are on loan from the Morges School of Construc­tion (mirror section) and will be reused by the students, while the pedes­tals are taken from a previ­ous exhib­i­tion. The carpet, rented for the occa­sion, reflects the limited avail­ab­il­ity of recycled mater­i­als in the same color.
The second room is also based on reuse. The false ceil­ing comes from previ­ous exhib­i­tions, while the cent­ral struc­ture, inspired by a cabinet of curi­os­it­ies, was made of wood from joists commonly used by the mudac. Designed to be modu­lar, sturdy, and read­ily avail­able, this struc­ture will be stored in the museum’s reserves for reuse in future exhib­i­tions.
The follow­ing rooms, designed as a labor­at­ory, combine elements that have already been used in several previ­ous exhib­i­tions. Reusing them extends their lifespan while avoid­ing the produc­tion of new devices. The last room, designed entirely by Kévin Germain­ier, reflects his commit­ment to upcyc­ling and eco-respons­ible prac­tices, estab­lish­ing continu­ity between the design­er’s choices and those of the museum.

Through Les Mons­trueuses, upcyc­ling emerges as a cent­ral prac­tice that is at once artistic, social, and sceno­graphic. Draw­ing on exist­ing mater­i­als, dormant stocks, and a wide range of expert­ise, the exhib­i­tion high­lights another way of think­ing about creation, based on the trans­form­a­tion, valor­iz­a­tion, and circu­la­tion of resources.
This carte blanche reflects a shared vision between mudac and Kévin Germanier: that of contem­por­ary creation that integ­rates ecolo­gical, social, and aesthetic issues, and where reuse becomes a field for exper­i­ment­a­tion and innov­a­tion.