XULY.Bët – Funkin’ Fashion Factory 100% Recycled

1.8.25–1.8.27

XULY.Bët – Funkin’ Fashion Factory 100% Recycled is running in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. The exhibition tells the story of Lamine Badian Kouyaté and his label XULY.Bët. Kouyaté is a pioneer of upcycling fashion and makes fashion that moves between streetwear and high fashion. On view until 01.08.27.

Bold lettering, assertive statements and recycled textiles – these are the distinguishing features of the Parisian fashion label XULY.Bët. The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) is dedicating a solo exhibition to designer Lamine Kouyaté’s innovative label. On display are around 20 selected outfits from collections of recent years, which were recently acquired for the museum’s Fashion and Textiles Collection – including a sporty dress worn by internationally renowned singer Rihanna. The exhibition at the MK&G asks questions about the limitations of the fashion industry and textile production, the circular economy and the interaction between body and consumption.

XULY.BËT

Founded in Paris in 1991 by Lamine Kouyaté (b. 1962), the fashion house XULY.Bët produces wearable fashion made from second-hand textiles. The label’s name comes from the West African language Wolof and means “keep your eyes open”. By conceiving everyday pieces and sportswear in the elegant style of Parisian haute couture, XULY.Bët broke with the zeitgeist of the 1990s fashion world, introducing seams turned outwards, slanted cuts, dangling red threads and outfits made up of several individual pieces emblazoned with activist messages and product information. The focus is on visible upcycling and entirely sustainable production. Lamine Kouyaté was inspired by his mother and grandmother, who lent the family’s used clothes new life by reworking the garments.

XULY.Bët also gained wider recognition through the 1994 film “Prêt-à-Porter” by director Robert Altman. Altman was so impressed by Kouyaté’s work that he included him as a character in the film about the fashion world – portrayed by actor Forest Whitaker.

LAMINE KOUYATÉ

Designer and architect Lamine Badian Kouyaté (b. 1962 in Bamako, Mali) studied at the Dakar School of Fine Arts and architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture in Strasbourg. In 1995, Kouyaté collaborated with the Puma brand, and he has also developed fashions for A.P.C., 3 Suisses and Leclerc. The first XULY.Bët boutique opened in 1996 in Les Halles in Paris. His designs have been represented in exhibitions including “Africa 2005” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Lamine Kouyaté lives and works in Paris.
In the exhibition, two short films offer deeper insights into Lamine Kouyaté’s working methods: Filmmaker Susan Chales de Beaulieu visited the fashion designer on behalf of NDR in 1993 for the programme “DAS!”, while the arte TRACKS programme “Upcycling: Fashion Punks Against Fast Fashion!” from 2024 explores the background of upcycling in fashion, using XULY.Bët as one example.
Thanks to the support of the Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen (SHK), around 60 works by XULY.Bët were added to the Fashion and Textiles Collection in 2024 through acquisitions and donations. These new additions help to further diversify the collection.

Exhibition on view from 1.8.25 – 1.8.27

www.mkg-hamburg.de/en/exhibitions/xulybet

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Accopanying Programme

An accompanying programme will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, including the four-day workshop “Reshape! Tailoring, Sewing, Transforming” (starting 7 September 2025). Further events are taking place in collaboration with Fabric – a project by Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft. For more information, please refer to the calendar on our website.