Alphonse Maitrepierre

When he appeared in front of the jury of the Grands Prix de la Création, Alphonse Maitrepierre, 26, was wearing his lucky jumper with a cat on it. Was it this offbeat outfit that caught the attention of the assembly? Certainly not. Because this graduate of La Cambre in Brussels, former assistant designer at Jean-Paul Gaultier, who has worked for Chanel and Acne Studios and is also a costume designer for the cinema, has much more to show than just a funny jumper.

He has a world where an old-fashioned side blends with a very geeky approach. "I get a real kick out of dissecting archives and exploring haute couture codes. And what's fun for me is confronting this approach with more contemporary references". Fun is a word often used by this enthusiast, who presented his green leather Manette bag to the jury. "It illustrates my approach. I designed it from the drawing of a Birkin which I stretched on the computer to give it the shape of a PS3 controller. And if it's green, it's because I wanted to make it with dead stocks of leather. When I called the factory, they had only this shade to offer. I was thrilled, this neon green was exactly what I was looking for", he recounts.

Alongside her silhouettes where structure is turned upside down by incongruous elements, there are also the comb-glasses imagined for the Emmanuelle Khanh label. "They're inspired by '80s models. But the temples are combs that are a little bit dadame," concludes Alphonse, ambassador of a vocabulary that is also delightfully offbeat.