Ronald van der Kemp is Reinventing the Notion of a Couture House

30 / 01 / 2025
POR Anna Barr

The world’s first sustainable couture label, Ronald van der Kemp unveiled his new collection during Paris Haute Couture Week

The most exclusive dates in fashion are reserved for Paris Haute Couture Week, where fashion becomes art and pieces are like muses. Designers are given carte blanche to express ideas, exaggerated or not, through designs that display their creativity and technical couture skills that position them as real creators of couture, confirmed by the prestigious La Fédération de la Haute Couture. In a certain way, these creators forecast the future of the clothing industry. Dutch designer Ronald van der Kemp is not only on the calendar, but RDVK is the world’s first sustainable couture label.

Since its founding in 2014, RDVK has brought forth its mission “New Ethics in Luxury Fashion”. Now in its tenth year, the house continues to inspire a movement for sustainable change beyond fashion and demands that ethics shouldn’t be a trend but a mainstay.
Photographer Louise Reinke takes us backstage at RVDK Spring Summer 2025, during Paris Haute Couture Week, set in the magnificent Hôtel d’Avaray which houses the Dutch ambassador. Every piece is ethically made with high-end existing materials and leftovers, and crafted by hand by small ateliers and artisans while rejecting the wasteful practices of the fashion systems.

Feathers are vintage as are many fabrics along with a surplus of couture fabrics, leather and exotic remnants are rescued from luxury brand bag productions, meanwhile handwoven Thai fabrics were sourced from Thai archives as were many embellishments crafted from vintage Thai jewelry, leftover beads, pearls, reimagined plastic bottles, antique finds, buttons, and more. By infusing high fashion with a sense of nostalgia and a yearning for the era of haute couture, RVDK has once again demonstrated that ethical design can be gorgeous and exciting.

Photography by Louise Reinke for VEIN MAGAZINE