A POST SUMMER SOLITARY REVERIE OF A RAVE

Rafael Kouto explores the revival of the rave with his new upcycled collection: merging African and Western influences with a psychedelic twist Rafael Kouto, the Swiss upcycling couture brand, releases a limited edition collection titled “A post summer solitary reverie of a rave” in collaboration with The Zurich Silk Association. This collection doubles as a cultural project, aiming to preserve the authentic “savoir faire” of the Swiss fashion and textile industry by situating it in an international and contemporary context.  The garments of this capsule collection are crafted using upcycled silk from the textile archive of the Zurich Silk Association ‘Zürcherische Seidenindustrie Gesellschaft’, an association of active and former companies in the Zurich silk industry and one of the oldest business associations in Switzerland. Rafael Kouto selected fabrics from the 2011 “Soie Pirate, Textil Archiv Abraham’’ exhibition, which captured the traditions of Switzerland’s haute couture silk trade. Abraham AG (Abraham Ltd) was a corporation central to this trade, collaborating with Parisian couturiers for the creations of iconic fashion houses. In a 1966 Women’s Wear Daily interview, Ludwig Abraham, founder of the then “L. Abraham & Co. Seiden AG” states “The truth of the classic beauties should not be lost in six months”. This has become the guiding thread of Rafael Kouto’s collection; reworking vintage textiles by reimagining their beauty and expanding the life cycle.

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