By Sandrine Goncalvès

Since her first show in 2000, Ann Valerie Hash has seduced with her original vision of fashion and her taste for the transformation of clothes. The queen of the androgynous look – as many call her – who found her style by diverting men’s clothing, has managed once again to mark the week of Haute Couture in Paris in an original and stylish way.
She was absent from the catwalks in 2009 but she came back this year with an intimate but entirely original fashion show called “Confessions” that was simply held in her Paris studio.

To develop her new project, she has asked some friends and personalities from the worlds of fashion, art or show business to give her a garment they really cared of and that best reflected their personality. The pieces she collected proved all very different. Albert Elbaz, the artistic director of Lanvin, offered some pajamas. Lea Seydoux gave an African bag while Jean-Paul Gaultier gave a sailor sweater. Bettina Rheims chose to offer a dress by Azzedine Alaia and Pete Doherty an old military jacket he wore while playing with his band Babyshambles. Among the 30 people she contacted,14 answered positively.

Then, Ann Valerie Hash recycled those 14 garments in various ways: by embroiding them with sequins or by covering them with organza for example. Each clothe was dismantled and reworked in a real game of deconstruction-recontruction. The designer has really given them a new life as they sometimes were unrecognizable on the catwalk. Thus, Albert Elbaz’ pajamas became a silk tuxedo and Bettina Rheims’ dress was changed into cavalier boots. The designer even successfully converted a ballet shoe into a glove.

To achieve such astonishing results, she has worked hand in hand with well-known craftsmen such as the Maison Fabre, which is specialized in the manufacture of gloves, the renowned luxury shoes manufacturer Massaro, the famous hat manufacturer Maison Michel and Schlaefer Jacob, the Swiss specialist for textiles.

For Ann Valerie Hash, the difficulty laid in transforming the garments while respecting the personality and style of the people who gave them. She also confessed she had taken great pleasure and fun by creating this collection. She explained she has been seduced by this « cast off chic » or « second-hand luxury » as it can be called because she saw it as a breath of fresh air in the actual fashion industry.

According to her, people buy way too many clothes and such a collection represents a return to a more sensible fashion. Finally, this recycling work also reflects the current trend for ecological matters as well as an affection for things linked to the past.

Ann Valerie Hash also likes to think about this work as an artistic research rather than a simple fashion collection as it will certainly never be sold. Furthermore, she has always been conscious not be financially able to compete with prestigious houses like Dior or Chanel. So, she had to fight on another field, that of creativity and experimentation. The result is not only surprising but also touching and intimate.