Associate Professor, designer Dr Kęstutis Lekeckas (Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution (HEI) Faculty of Arts and Education) won gold at the French Fashion Awards in the fashion category for his sustainable fashion collection “Sustainable Twin”.
A fearless approach to fashion
The French Fashion Awards captures the excellence of fashion, signifying the importance of elegance, revolutionary, and iconic design. As a global platform that recognises the heart of fashion’s future, this competition honours the visionaries who go beyond the boundaries of style, applauding creatives with craftsmanship, and those who master the art of storytelling through fashion marketing and advertising.
‘In consumer culture, there are endless similar items, which when we purchase, we usually do not take a deeper interest in how or what they are made of, what are the possibilities of recycling them. The “Sustainable Twin” collection submitted to the competition was created by the principles of sustainability in all stages of the creative process: from the choice of materials to design solutions that influence the shape of structural details. How was it born? After making traditional suits, one-of-a-kind suits were constructed from the remaining waste, the design of raincoats is close to zero waste technology, which allows for maximum use of the available fabric with almost no waste,’ shares Associate Professor Dr K. Lekeckas.
Unique aesthetics, one-of-a-kind suits use the highest quality wool scraps left over from sewing individual suits. The creative process begins with the analysis and sorting of raw materials: according to quality, colours and thicknesses.
‘Even very small scraps can be used by purposefully dividing and sorting pieces of material. It’s like a solution to a more sustainable production process, and at the same time a way to create an exclusive and unique design,’ says the designer.
Associate Professor Dr K. Lekeckas, who has been awarded more than one prestigious award, notes that the modern suit made from interlaced waste is like a sustainable twin of the traditional suit: it can be extremely similar to its predecessor and, only upon careful examination, sometimes seams and details that reveal the specifics of the design can be noticed. Such a design, according to the designer, allows an exclusive aesthetic to be revealed through subtle combinations of colours and patterns: ‘The wide range of combinations allows different personalities to discover and adapt a sustainable suit for themselves.’
Prestigious awards
The initial idea of a sustainable suit won a gold award at the global design competition A‘ Design Award & Competition, he is the winner of the BIG SEE fashion category Step Forward of the Ljubljana International Design Week competition. In 2023, The Baltics Prestige Awards 2022/23 granted the status of Designer Clothing Retailer of the Year to the fashion house “leKeckas” and to the designer himself.
The designer, who last year was granted the status of artist by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, is not only an innovator in the field of fashion but also a seminar lecturer, organiser of various fashion-related trainings, exhibition participant, co-author of scientific articles. The most common topics he explores both in his creative work and in his scientific works are the creation of sustainable products, the search for new aesthetics, waste-free production, recyclability, and circular design.
Team:
Clothing and image: Kęstutis Lekeckas
Photos: Miglė Golubickaitė
Hair: Kristina Gorodeckienė
Assistant: Alina Kusaitė
Models: Rokas and Matas, Mboys Agency
