Launch Vincent Esclade 3537 Paris

Launch of the Vincent Esclade brand at 3537, now Dover Street Market Paris

In December 2023, I presented the first chapter of the Vincent Esclade brand at an event held at 3537, now Dover Street Market Paris. This evening marked both the official launch of the project and the opening of the brand's website.

This event marked the first chapter in a process built gradually through experimentation and iteration. At the heart of this work lies a tension between two dimensions: the pleasure of creating clothing and the need to rethink its production in a context of textile overabundance.

The first pieces presented at this event were the "linked clothing" t-shirts and sweatshirts , made from selected second-hand garments. Designed as unique upcycled pieces, these garments are conceived as duos, to be worn by two people or like pieces of a puzzle where you don't always find the other half.

Connected clothing: a first chapter exploring the concept of connection

This first chapter of the brand explores the idea of clothing as a symbol of relationship . Usually, clothing is associated with the expression of a personal style, an identity, or a social belonging.

With "linked clothing" , the challenge was to shift this perspective: to imagine a garment that would no longer represent only the individual, but also the relationship between two people.

Each piece is designed as a duo, a set to be shared or exchanged. The garments thus become the medium for a collective experience, reminding us that fashion can also be a space for connection. Find out more about "linked clothing".

Presenting the artistic projects that gave rise to the brand

The event also provided an opportunity to showcase several artistic projects that form the genesis of the brand. These various explorations examine clothing as a social image, as a symbolic object, or as a surface for projecting our identities.

Art installation exploring the link between social stereotypes and clothing

The installation Prefabricated Identities , initially presented at the group exhibition " Are We All Fetishists?" in 2015, proposed imagining a dystopian dispenser of social identities. Each archetype was associated with a set of clothing, accessories, and a set of behavioral instructions.

This project questions gender stereotypes and the social roles we sometimes assume despite ourselves. In its new version, friends were invited to reinterpret these archetypes, oscillating between humor, exaggeration, and critical distance.

Love me Tinder: clothes, images and poses from social media

The Love me Tinder project, developed with artist Rosanna Lefeuvre, explores the staging of intimacy on social networks.

The silhouettes are constructed from recurring poses observed on digital platforms: selfies in bed, couple photos, or images of the body in front of a mirror. These silhouettes are made from clothing arranged on the floor in the shape of the pose, then enlarged to allow the body to be inserted into them.

Conceived as wearable images, these pieces oscillate between clothing and object. When the body enters the silhouette, it breaks its flatness and breathes new life into the image.

Magikadou and collective experiments around upcycling

The installation presented also included a curtain made from scraps of clothing cut during the Magikadou project, an artistic residency conducted in Mâcon as part of the Transat program of Les Ateliers Médicis.

This participatory project invited children to transform forgotten clothes using various upcycling techniques. The curtain on display is embroidered from the remnants of these clothes, preserving a tangible record of this collective process.

Towards a second chapter: the "Strike a pose" project

The event finally announced the continuation of the project with a second chapter entitled "Strike a Pose" . This new stage extends the research initiated in "Love me Tinder" , bringing the silhouettes closer to the clothing worn.

The piece on display, inspired by the #mirrorselfie pose, subverts the image of the male body exhibited on social media. Made from vintage nightshirts, the silhouette plays on the contrasts between masculinity, sensuality, and dress codes.

This second chapter thus pursues the same ambition: to link clothing know-how, artistic reflection and a critical look at the images that shape our social relationships.

An event combining fashion, contemporary art and upcycling in Paris

The launch of the brand at Dover Street Market Paris was conceived as a moment of encounter between several dimensions of my work: the creation of upcycled clothing, the artistic research around the social image of clothing and the presentation of the projects that have gradually built this approach.

Rather than a simple presentation of a collection, this event offered a journey through different research projects carried out over several years: installations, garment-objects, participatory experiments and first ready-to-wear pieces made from second-hand clothing.

This approach reflects the ambition of the Vincent Esclade project: to develop a clothing practice that is creative, artisanal and critical, where fashion engages in dialogue with contemporary art and the social issues that permeate our relationship to clothing.