Xavier Delcour black leather bondage bracelet with silver rings — fall 2001

In 1995, at the ‘Festival Européen des jeunes Stylistes’, Xavier Delcour won the ‘Prix collection Homme’, the ‘Prix de la Presse’ and the ‘Prix Absolut Vodka’. In september of that year he presented a first men’s collection (Spring/Summer 1996) under his own name.

In his collections, Xavier Delcour is off-the-cuff and elegant. His man may initially seem rational, even conventional. The cut of the suits is rigorous and strict. They must be worn straight up. The overall impression is slim, with long lines, but not cramped: the pants fall straight, the sports coats are centred and often a bit square-shouldered. Stilted sometimes, but always elegant. Black predominates, underscoring the silhouette to give the ‘best expression and handsomest posture’. The principle of a two-colour collection has taken hold season after season: black and pink, black and violet, black and white, black and red… The colours are always pure, frank. Xavier Delcour has created a style very much his own, halfway between the black dandy of the eighties and the techno-chic clubber of the nineties. Rhinestones are recurrent, so perfect for the night. Minimal Night, Maximum Rhinestones. For Xavier Delcour, rhinestones are neither an accessory, nor just glitter; he uses them as a colour. Certain shirts and coats are sleeveless, and show the cuts with raw edges; the ends of trouser-legs are marked with a ribbon and at times the hems seem undone; the lurex lining of a coat hangs down, evoking a ragged look.

In his work there is a certain idea of entertainment linked primarily to nightlife and its flow of encounters, atmospheres, and impressions. His masculine line shimmers with material that take on a whole new dimension at night. The woollen suitt striped with lurex threads becomes an agent for the illumination of the body it protects; a coat in diamond-studded cotton offers a gleaming swathe of stars…

This work, ‘ready to swerve into exaggeration and bad taste’, always confronts us with something ‘off-the-cuff’, a strong element of desire and eagerness to please…