Upcycling according to the Cambridge  dictionary: the activity of making new furniture, objects etc. out of old or used things or waste material.
This is not recycling, it’s upcycling.

A broad concept that includes many areas and various all-round products.
However, initially I would like to focus in particular on fashion: also to continue the discussion a little in the wake of the considerations on reuse that I was pleased to read in the comments on Looop.

Starting as always with King Giorgio and with his “I’m saying yes to recycling” it must be said that in this case we are dealing with recovered or recycled materials, while upcycling represents a next step, it is not “simple” recycling.

Many stylists are in fact creating clothes, capsules, or real collections, reusing vintage garments which, skilfully revisited, give life to new expressions of their art.

In this regard we can take a look at Upcycled by Miu Miu: an exclusive and special collection of recycled and reworked vintage pieces, built around unsigned period pieces dating back to the period between the thirties and the eighties, which includes 80 unique and numbered dresses.

Another example is Recicla by John Galliano for Maison Margiela term that derives from the fusion of recycle and replica: a series of limited edition garments included in the collection, which bear the characteristic white label on which, however, the origin and the period are now indicated.
I especially like Wicker bags.

After all, Martin Margiela can perhaps be defined as a precursor of the deconstruction that has always been his prerogative, and, quoting him, the association of ideas with Jean Paul Gaultier is immediate.

I have been following JPG with particular attention since he designed the costumes for Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element: Leeloo is iconic to me.
And I would say that his show… bordello  as he himself defined it, as well as absolutely spectacular, was an upcycling roundup of the 50 years of fashion he went through.

The grief is for his goodbye to his career, but I would say that more than a abandonment it is a great ending.
I could also launch a contest: how many names and quotes can you count? As long as you can really list everything …

Since we are in France, the Renaissance project, supported among others by the Kéring group, is also worth mentioning. 

The founder and president is Philippe Guilet, who has worked with many stylists such as Jean Paul Gaultier, but also Thierry Mugler, Karl Lagerfeld and Donna Karan.

This project implies a true and proper upcycling couture, and, in addition to the reuse of the garments, it also provides for the reintegration of people excluded from work, according to the idea of offering them a new life too.

The garments are donated by individuals who become ambassadors and ambassadors of the brand.
Renaissance also bets on the outskirts of Paris precisely to integrate and provide opportunities.

What do you think about it? Have you ever reused or recovered some old outfit that came out of a trunk?

I confess that I fell in love with some dresses that my mom had kept in the wardrobe for years, and that I wore them on special occasions.
Above all I would remember a similar sleeveless black velvet sheath dress with a slightly trapezoidal cut and a semigloss thread of black trimmings around the round and very closed neckline.

I thought it could be fun, in view of this particular New Year’s Eve (although it is an anniversary that I do not celebrate) to reinvent a dress with something recovered in the house. What do you say?