One of the main trends in the design world is the return to nature, to simpler and more basic forms. Regarding that, Camille Cortet has created a series of fashion accessories.
One of the main trends in Post Fossil: Excavating 21st Century Creation, curated by Li Edelkoort, is the return to nature, to simpler and more basic forms, to rituals of the past, and the creation of more modest design that is closer to the natural and animal worlds. Today this approach is evident not only in the world of product design. Camille Cortet has created a series of fashion accessories inspired by the behavior of animals in nature.
photo courtesy of Camille CortetCamille Cortet, who was born in France and is a graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven, admits that nature is her greatest source of inspiration. She focuses this statement and reduces the broad canvas of her inspiration, all that “nature” encompasses, to transformation – transformation in the animal world.
photo: Vincent van GurpHer series of body ornaments, Transformation, is based on adopting and translating behaviors from the animal world into the life of humans. For her, this is a way of creating new gestures and expressions in body language, either by means of clothing or accessories.Work on the series began when Cortet started investigating the ability of animals to transform by changing the outer layer of their body, their color, skin, or even by changing their behavior during mating.
Work on Snake & Molting Legwear began from close observation of the behavior of skin. Human skin ages slowly, changing and peeling throughout our life almost unobserved. By contrast, snakes go through various exhausting stages in order to shed their unnecessary skin. During the shedding process, their skin is heavy and too tight, too small, and presses against their body. Cortet decided to translate this behavior into the world of humans. The tights she designed are made from a flexible textile with laser-cut slits that when worn become a “second skin”, adapting to the shape of the body and responding to its movements. The slits evolve and grow with every movement as the tights “age” and break after several uses. Just like a snake shedding its skin, they peel away and separate from the body.
photo: courtesy of Camille Cortet
Cortet’s Bird & Seduction series is a collection of fashion accessories inspired by the mating dances of birds. Various birds possess an ability to transform, which bursts forth during their mating season. The mating season, which is attended by numerous changes, affects the way birds behave, look, and move. Sometimes this is manifested in changes to the color of their feathers, their volume and how they ruffle, and sometimes even by the appearance of hidden feathers of different sizes, textures, and colors. This visual mating and its attendant changes are manifested in the males of the species, to seduce and encourage females to choose them to mate with. This inspired Cortet to create a series of fashion accessories for men. The collars she has designed are made of different layers of textile and paper that change according to the wishes of the person wearing them, and become part of their body language. With the airy collars, their changing volume and colors on his body, the male can impress females just as if both were birds.
photo courtesy of Camille Cortet
photo courtesy of Camille Cortet
photo courtesy of Camille Cortet
To Camille Cortet’s website >>To the Post Fossil page >>
