Add Ronald van der Kemp to the designers turning to nature for inspiration this season. “When humanity fails, we look to nature,” he said, as if with disbelief more than despondence. From a lower-level darkened space and after an extended wait, RVDK offered up The Call of the Wild, a collection borne from a collaboration with Brazilian model and jewelry designer Thayna Caiça, who opened the show in a short corseted number that looked as though it was constructed from a pleated leaf. She was the bridge between van der Kemp and a community of artisans who embroidered the small birds that sprung from her grassy skirt.
RVDK’s Wardrobe 22 encompassed an assortment of flora and fauna that were as wild in execution as visual statement: arty animal spots that were hand-layered silk mousseline, a kind of fur that alternated organza and mousseline, another sculpted dress that was a coated plissé fabric and not a banana leaf. If show notes took some liberty in describing these effects as biomimicry, the takeaway still left the impression that van der Kemp is constantly stretching the imaginations of his atelier team.
There were other direct riffs on the beauty of Brazil, including a deep blue dress with padded volumes and embroidered fish that was named after an Amazon river tidal phenomenon. But just as many creations were simply—though still eccentrically—rendered in a more neutral key of couture. “I never have a theme, but this time, it sort of came naturally because I was working on birds. They can fly wherever they want to go; there are no limits, no borders,” he said. There was no political subtext, he noted. “We just want to do good things and touch people and show what people are capable of through craftsmanship.”
Among other pieces that achieved the wow factor were a hooded maxi cardigan collaged from at least hundreds of knitted scraps, and a coat that was loaded with so much embellishment from small bits of bric-a-brac that someone might consider its value as an alluring tension of haute couture and arte povera.
Van der Kemp says he continues to sell garments to collectors who consider them like a museum piece versus a novelty party dress. “I feel some of this can be futurist art, and this how it was with collectors from the ’80s and ’90s,” he said. The difference between RVDK and other couture houses is that RVDK will transform the remnants from those eras into his own “birds of paradise,” or a “naked dress,” or a retro-futuristic lustrous bustier with a lampshade skirt. “After 11 years, my company has become a true sustainable company, and now I can really do what I want to do. It took a long time and a lot of patience and perseverance, but I’m at a point where it’s really working,” he said. Fanciful impulses offset by resourceful applications.
