FRESHLY
UPCYCLED
ESSENTIEL
ANTWERP
In our commitment to a greener Essentiel Antwerp, we’ve teamed up with Valentine Tinchant, the creative mind behind Studio Circulaire. She recently created an upcycled capsule collection with our leftover stock. Continue reading to know more about her design philosophy and the whole creative process behind this new way of doing fashion.
Why upcycling?
Valentine — I’ve always seen a lot of beauty in waste and trash in general, somehow it has always inspired me. To me it's a routine, it’s something I do on a daily with my own outfits, I’ve been doing it now for years and I love it. During my studies at Polimoda in Firenze, I learned about the big waste in fashion and decided early on that I wanted to focus on sustainability, upcycling and minimizing the waste in the fashion industry. As a young designer I find it my responsibility to try and do so.
How and when did you get into this new way of fashion?
Valentine — As a teenager I had an obsession of cutting up my clothes and putting them back together in a different way with 20 and more pins. I saw this as my ideal wardrobe. For me technical patterns were always kind of hard, draping was quickly my thing.
In my first two years in school I started deconstructing clothes to understand how they were made and by taking everything apart it all became clearer to me. I created my own way of making patterns by first creating prototypes. Somehow I found more beauty in prototypes put together by already existing garments, than in newly constructed garments. It gave me way more inspiration to create, it made fashion very fun for me.
What was your first upcycling project?
Valentine — In my 3rd year at school I created 10 upcycled looks, where no new materials were used and almost no budget was needed to create this. I used vintage clothes that I found in flea markets and used the waste, leftover fabrics and pieces from students at school, as well as clothes from my friends and my own wardrobe.
"With Studio Circulaire, we want to offer a sustainable solution for designers, brands and retailers by upcycling their stock and creating a circular fashion model."
Can you tell us a bit more about Studio Circulaire?
Valentine — The idea behind Studio Circulaire was born in August 2021, when multi-brand retailer Antony Hartmann was looking for a sustainable solution for the dead stock of his previous seasons. He contacted me to assist him with this project. We sourced and contacted local sewing ateliers and searched for the right potential clients to collaborate with.
With Studio Circulaire, we want to offer a sustainable solution for designers, brands and retailers by upcycling their stock and creating a circular fashion model.
Why Essentiel Antwerp?
Valentine — Over the years, I’ve been wearing quite a lot of Essentiel Antwerp. When I was younger I cut up some trousers from Essentiel Antwerp and wore it as a top. It actually became a design in this collection! I love the unique prints, colors, shapes and materials so I was very excited to be able to take the pieces apart and deconstruct them. And of course, as we’re both based in Antwerp, it felt logic to do our first collab together.
How did you create this capsule collection? What's the creative process behind it?
Valentine — I first look at the materials, the colors and prints and quite quickly I see what matches and which materials would work nicely together. Then I sketch all the ideas I have. Afterwards I drape them on a mannequin and once I’ve figured out the designs, I start visualizing them. I take pictures of every piece in its original form and by collaging them on photoshop into my new design ideas, I get to visualize the end results.
Once I am satisfied with the designs, I present them to the creative design team of Essentiel Antwerp. With the chosen designs we go to our production atelier. There we go through all the designs with our lovely team, Shawkat, Sybille and Hannah. I explain them my ideas, how I imagined the garments would look like and we discuss the possibilities all together. I visit the atelier weekly to see the process and help.
Can you upcycle any kind of material/garment or do you look for something specific?
Valentine — I like to look at the shapes of the garments, the print, color and the material. To me it’s often a feeling. Either it feels right to mix them together, or it doesn’t. I am also very inspired by metal pieces and jewelry, chains, etc,... I love upcycling and deconstructing jewelry too. I believe any material is upcycable, I also love the challenge to make something beautiful out of something I usually wouldn’t even think of using.
Will you experiment more with upcycling? What's next for you?
Valentine — Yes I will for sure! It’s been my dream for years. It’s something I will do forever. What’s next? Hopefully continuing upcyling the stock of Essentiel Antwerp and possible other brands in the future!
