We were all perched up in a charity shop in Paris’s 2nd arrondissement to watch Lamine Kouyaté’s blissful return home. The Paris-raised designer has shown his Xüly Bet collections largely in New York of late, preferring the energy of New York City over Paris. But something, as he explained post-show, had him longing for France, the place where his family and children are. Being in Paris also meant some of his longest-term collaborators, like Rossy de Palma and Michelle Elie, were there, bopping down the catwalk between the ’70s office decor and bins of baby onesies.
The millennials in the audience might not have clocked de Palma or Elie, but they could certainly recognize the Xüly Bet mission: smarter, stranger takes on everyday wear. Kouyaté was among the first wave of designers to, in Gen Z parlance, really freak it with the idea of wardrobe essentials. Yes, he can design a little black dress, but it will be made of a zillion fractured pieces of stretch jersey and red seaming, paired with a veil that holds a tiny baby inside. Yes, he can make jeans, but they will be cut precisely large and with clunky buttons. He’s got a trench coat—but it’s really more of a lab coat and made from 100% recycled materials.
After the show, Kouyaté was asked how it felt to be the first to be upcycling all the way back in the ’90s. He demurred, saying he wasn't the founder of the movement, but he was certainly one of its earliest supporters. “It says something positive,” he said of upcycling textiles. “We have to.” After all these years in the business of fashion, which often casts Kouyaté out to its fringes, it’s impressive to see him savvy as ever, working as hard as, if not harder than, when he started out.