Tyres, inner tubes and VHS tape win Emeline Rigault the Dinan fashion Grand Prix
Representative image: nebulosagrafica / Pixabay
Emeline Rigault won the Grand Prix at the 30th Dinan fashion designers' festival (9-11 October 2026) for clothes and bags made from tyres, inner tubes and VHS tape.
What Happened
French designer Emeline Rigault has won the Grand Prix at the 30th International Fashion Designers' Festival in Dinan, in Brittany, France, for a collection built from discarded materials. The festival was held from 9 to 11 October 2026 at the Théâtre des Jacobins. The jury rewarded her collection "Cosmose", in which bicycle tyres become bags, inner tubes become sheath dresses and magnetic tape from old VHS cassettes is knitted into fabric. She also won the festival's prize for savoir-faire, tailoring and design. Other prizes went to designers working with linen, organic cotton and reworked classic garments.
Key Facts
- The International Fashion Designers' Festival in Dinan marked its 30th edition from 9 to 11 October 2026.
- Emeline Rigault won the Grand Prix for her collection "Cosmose".
- Her pieces turn bicycle tyres into bags, inner tubes into sheath dresses and VHS tape into knitwear.
- Her prizes include a place in the Jean-Luc François incubator, valued at 6,000 euros, and a CDESIGN software solution worth 8,400 euros.
- Manon Boric won the Caroll Prize from the Beaumanoir Group for a collection in linen and organic cotton, and will design a capsule collection with Caroll.
- Clara Thévenet of LISAA Mode won the Pierre Cardin Prize, which brings a three-month placement in the Pierre Cardin Group's studio.
- Hombeline Pinault won the Royal Mer Prize for reinventions of the trucker jumper.
Why It Matters
Competitions for young designers often show where fashion is heading before big labels catch up. This year the top prize in Dinan went to work that starts from waste rather than from new cloth. Turning rubber tyres and inner tubes into wearable bags and dresses is technically hard: the material is heavy, stiff and not made to be cut or sewn like fabric. Knitting with VHS tape takes the same idea further, giving a second life to a material most households threw away long ago.
That approach, usually called upcycling, is becoming one of the main answers to fashion's waste problem. Instead of recycling garments back into fibre, which uses energy and machinery, upcycling reshapes an object that already exists. For a young designer it is also a way to stand out, since every piece carries a story about where its material came from.
The prizes themselves show how such competitions work as a career ladder. Rather than a large cash award, the Grand Prix comes with business support: a place in an incubator and professional design software. The Caroll and Pierre Cardin prizes give their winners direct experience inside established fashion companies, through a capsule collection and a studio placement.
For Indian readers, the story will sound familiar. India's own designers and craft groups have long reused textiles, from patchwork quilts to saris remade into new garments, and several Indian labels now build whole collections on reclaimed cloth. A French jury choosing a waste-based collection for its top award is another sign that this kind of work is moving from the margins to the centre of fashion.
| Winner | Prize | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Emeline Rigault | Grand Prix | Incubator place worth 6,000 euros and CDESIGN software worth 8,400 euros |
| Manon Boric | Caroll Prize (Beaumanoir Group) | A capsule collection with Caroll |
| Clara Thévenet | Pierre Cardin Prize | Three-month placement in the Pierre Cardin studio |
| Hombeline Pinault | Royal Mer Prize | Recognition for reworked trucker jumpers |
Impact
Short-term: The winners gain visibility in the French fashion industry, along with incubator support, software and placements that can help them turn student work into a business.
Long-term: Awards that reward upcycled and natural-fibre collections encourage design schools and young labels to treat sustainability as a design skill, not an add-on.
Who is affected: Young designers and fashion students, brands looking for new talent, and buyers who want clothes made with less new material.
Key Takeaway
A collection that turns bicycle tyres, inner tubes and VHS tape into fashion won Emeline Rigault the Grand Prix at the 30th Dinan fashion designers' festival in October 2026.
Questions and Answers
Who won the Grand Prix at the Dinan fashion festival in 2026?
Emeline Rigault won the Grand Prix at the 30th International Fashion Designers' Festival in Dinan, held from 9 to 11 October 2026, for her collection "Cosmose".
What materials did Emeline Rigault use?
She turned bicycle tyres into bags, inner tubes into sheath dresses and magnetic tape from VHS cassettes into knitwear.
What does the Grand Prix include?
It includes a place in the Jean-Luc François incubator valued at 6,000 euros and a CDESIGN software solution worth 8,400 euros. She also won the festival's savoir-faire, tailoring and design prize.
Who else won prizes at Dinan this year?
Manon Boric won the Caroll Prize for a linen and organic cotton collection, Clara Thévenet won the Pierre Cardin Prize with a three-month studio placement, and Hombeline Pinault won the Royal Mer Prize.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
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