Papier Collé

Papier Collé: POELLE’s New Drop Dedicated to the Art of Collage

Works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse served as key references on the brand’s creative moodboard.

Lviv-based leather accessories brand POELLE continues to operate at the intersection of fashion and art with the launch of its new drop, Papier Collé. The name of the collection references the collage technique — one of the favorite artistic methods of early 20th-century modernists.

“Papier collé, pioneered by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, was revolutionary for its time: by introducing external materials into the picture plane, it blurred the boundary between painting and reality. Later, this practice was further developed by Henri Matisse through his gouaches découpées cut-outs, and by Kurt Schwitters in his Merz collages. This concept — assembling meaning through fragments — became the starting point for POELLE’s new drop,” says the brand’s creative director Pavlo Popko.

In particular, the POELLE creative team’s moodboard features Matisse’s vibrant appliqué works The Snail and The Circus, as well as Schwitters’ experimental collages Cottage and 601.

The capsule’s color palette reflects the aesthetics of collage: classic black and warm shades of brown and cream are paired with bold accents of carmine, lime, and ochre.

“We don’t reference art in a literal way — we work with its principles. We’re fascinated by the idea of assembling something where the final result isn’t predetermined but emerges through the process itself. We imagined these accessories as collages, where individual elements — material, color, and form — interact with one another and come together as a cohesive whole,” adds Pavlo Popko.

The collection campaign, photographed by Mariia Salivonova, also embraces the principles of collage: within each frame, flat and three-dimensional objects interact with the main character — model Kseniia Shevchenko — creating an atmosphere that feels both surreal and playful.