Who would have thought that Pigeon feathers and beetle shells would one day become Haute Couture-worthy materials?
The supervisory board of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture must have thought so, as they officially welcomed Turkish designer Serkan Cura as a new guest member to the Haute Couture calendar of January 2014, next to Schiaparelli and Ralph & Russo.
The Paris-based designer formerly graduated in fashion design from the Royal Academy of Antwerp in 2007. Soon after, he moved to Paris and worked in the design atelier of Jean Paul Gaultier, where he specialized on fur and feathers.
“The last artisanal house in Paris that worked with feathers had to shut down recently – they gave me the opportunity to save a part of their feather stocks,” Cura explained to Style.com/Arabia. ” think that I am the only designer left in Paris who works with feathers in an artisanal way. Chanel does for some Haute Couture pieces, but that’s all. I think it is important to preserve this type of know-how before everybody forgets about it.”
The designer stated that he often travels to South Africa to select his feathers, mostly using bird-of-paradise, pink flamingo, pheasant, ostrich, heron, and pigeon feathers for his body-con dresses, sharply cut tuxedos, and accessories, with each feather being completely edged, glued, and plucked by hand.
“I would never harm a bird – so sometimes it takes ages to finish a dress. If I want new feathers, I have to adapt to nature, to the birds’ molting periods. Once, I wanted to make an outfit solely from parrot feathers, and it took me about 2 years to collect them all,” Cura continued, adding that he also works with burnt out beetle shells to create tuxedos and purses.
Thus far, the designer has been showing his fantasy feather Couture creations off-schedule during the Haute Couture season, and has made a name of himself for his unusual art. Serkan Cura’s Spring-Summer 2014 Haute Couture collection will be showcased on January 23rd during Paris Fashion Week.
