Jeremy Scott launches upcycled couture with Hyundai

Fashion designer Jeremy Scott, who this week stepped down as creative director of Moschino after 10 years, has unveiled a couture collection with Korean car company Hyundai upcycled from discarded automotive waste.

The collaboration is part of Hyundai’s Re:Style programme, an initiative, now in its fourth year, that taps top international fashion designers to upcycle automotive waste into fashion items. The project was launched in 2019 in New York with Maria Cornejo, who created clothing from waste car seat fabric. In 2020, Hyundai collaborated with six designers at Selfridges in London, and in 2021, it reamed up with Leclaireur in Paris and Boontheshop in Seoul.

This year’s collaboration aims “to break stereotypes of sustainable design,” explains Hyundai, as Scott has used discarded materials from the Korean car brand’s electric vehicles, such as wheels, seat belts, tail lights, and windshield wipers, together with the deadstock fabrics to create an haute couture collection.

“When Hyundai approached me, I felt both honoured and challenged. I love the idea of crafting something with materials that I’ve never used before. Leftover taillight and seatbelts were definitely a first, but it shows that with creativity you can breathe new life into anything," says Jeremy Scott. “I think the goal is to let the designs themselves speak to the beauty of our planet, and the mission to protect and preserve it.”

The collection will be showcased at the Re:Style archive exhibition at Seongsu Ap Again in Seoul from March 23 to April 9. The exhibit will also showcase all the Re:Style archival pieces alongside the car company’s electric vehicle line-up in conjunction with the release of the Kona EV.

Sungwon Jee, senior vice president and global chief marketing officer at Hyundai Motor Company, added: “We are excited to present this collection by Jeremy Scott, which demonstrates that much of what we throw away can be repurposed and become something beautiful through such vision and talent.

“We hope to continue to tell our story of sustainability in unique ways and communicate the vision of electrification and innovation that is captured in the all-new Kona Electric.”