Gorpcore sustainability, conscious fashion according to Nicole McLaughlin We met up with the designer at Diemme's Paris workshop

Nicole McLaughlin's creative project seems to have no limits. She knows how to turn a real tennis ball into a teacup, bags of candy into Bermuda shorts, Tamagotchi toys into a pair of glasses. Her career, launched in 2019 after leaving a position at Reebok, has taken her into the world of music and high fashion, garnering the attentions of the likes of Pharrell Williams, J Balvin and ASAP Mob, and exclusive partnerships with renowned brands including Gucci, Arc'teryx, Prada, and Hermès. But fame has not changed her: she still continues to focus on social and environmental causes, selling most of her creations on charity auctions. By repurposing discarded materials and objects found at home or in thrift shops, McLaughlin teaches the younger generation how style and sustainability can coexist, finding ever more innovative and strictly "gorpcore" ways to create bespoke, one-of-a-kind clothes and shoes. 

Your creations have been praised by Travis Scott, Pharrell Williams and fellow designer Gab Bois. Do you think fashion is really as elitist as it is portrayed?  

A certain level of fashion is financially elitist, but style is not. The accessibility of fashion via eBay, Grailed, thrift shops and rental sites helps to bridge the affordability gap.

You like materials, you experiment with everything, even food. Your current obsession?  

I love a good junk drawer purchase. 

Environmental sustainability and upcycling are at the core of your thinking, that's for sure. Is it a provocation when you present functional objects in an unconventional way?  

It is not so much provocation as it is informing the viewer of the potential of an object or material by simply adding a different function. And I believe that functionality exists in many forms and ways.