"The fashion world likes everything to be slick, but I'm a bit like Dr. Frankenstein, experimenting all the time with little bits and bobs," said Kevin Germanier, the young Swiss designer who created the Golden Voyager costume for the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
That glittering outfit was made from reels and reels of recycled video tape from his childhood, along with hundreds of Germanier's favourite plaything -- pearls, reports AFP.
Even before his Olympic triumph, the 32-year-old was already a darling of the fashion front rows for his playful, retro style and mastery of haute couture's sparkly box of tricks.
But coming up with that costume for the dancer Arthur Cadre -- and having to keep it all secret for nine months -- was "the experience of a lifetime", Germanier said as he showed his spring-summer collection at Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday.
"It was the biggest platform I have ever been given," he told AFP, still wide-eyed about it six weeks later.
The fashion bible Vogue hailed his otherworldly creation as "the most impressive costume of the ceremony", and the strange flying creature, part wasp, part mosquito, part firework, set social media alight.
Like many of his generation, Germanier has made upcycling -- using offcuts, unused or unsold cloth -- an article of faith, as much from conviction as financial necessity.