The idea of recycling in connection with the fashion industry has experienced, over the years, a fortune that could bedescribed as fluctuating. The practice of 'putting something old back into use, reusing, repurposing' has gone - seasonafter season - from the fashionable stigma of 'so last year' to the fashionista-thrill of the vintage total look. Now thispractice enjoys an unprecedented success with the upcycling phenomenon.This term, which literally refers to the process of creative recycling capable of making the new object acquire a greatervalue than the original, is now a must for many luxury brands. In fact, the fashion system's interest involves, in the firstinstance, the creation of the collections and individual garments, tying in with the themes of sustainable fashion. On theother hand, however, the practice of upcycling - which represents a topos in the world of art (as shown, for example, byKurt Schwitters' Merzbau) - has also been reinterpreted in purely artistic contexts (connected with fashion creation).The presentation, from these initial considerations, aims to investigate the consequences of the resemantization of theterm recycling in the fashion industry in the light of the new myth of upcycling. The aim will therefore be to investigate thevalorization of upcycling in contemporary times, starting with Tony Cragg's quotation (CELANT, 1996: 41) according towhich “every element is either magnificent or ugly or whatever. It depends on our range of criteria”.