When jewellery becomes fashion: Kestas Rimdzius & Ginger Tail

What happens when jewellery is no longer the finishing touch, but becomes part of the garment itself?

For the latest collection by Lithuanian fashion designer Kęstas Rimdžius, presented at ELLE Iconic Night during Vilnius Fashion Week, I created a series of jewellery pieces designed exclusively for the collection.

At the heart of the collection was one recurring symbol: the bow.

Soft and romantic by nature, the bow took on a completely different character when translated into metal. I explored the motif through earrings and a necklace, playing with scale, shape and movement.

But one piece pushed the idea much further.

15 metres of wire, one corset

The most ambitious piece of the collaboration was a sculptural metal corset made entirely from hand-shaped bows.

Creating it required around 15 metres of wire, Swarovski crystals in different sizes and many days of shaping, assembling and adjusting each individual element by hand.

The challenge was not simply to create something visually striking. The corset had to work on the body.

Each metal bow became part of a larger structure, following the silhouette while still retaining the character of a jewellery piece. What began as individual pieces of wire gradually became something that existed somewhere between an accessory, a sculpture and a garment.

Where two creative worlds meet

Jewellery is traditionally thought of as the final detail - something added once the clothes are already there.

For this collaboration, we approached it differently.

The jewellery was created as part of the collection from the beginning, allowing the two disciplines to become intertwined. Kęstas’ fashion and my jewellery met through a shared motif, while the metal corset became perhaps the clearest expression of that dialogue.

It is this kind of creative process that I find particularly exciting: taking the techniques and materials I work with every day and asking how far they can go beyond what we usually call jewellery.

Sometimes an earring becomes a statement.

Sometimes a bow becomes metal.

And sometimes 15 metres of wire become something you can wear.

Kęstas Rimdžius × Ginger Tail
Vilnius Fashion Week -  ELLE Iconic Night, Vilnius