This is a pretty old project of mine, back in 2012 (Think student days, hence the documentation of the process. π )
So as a student, I was involved in a couple of upcycling/recycling projects in school. The first one was a group effort, the second one, however, was a solo project, which is what I'm sharing with you.
We had a tie-up with one of the resorts in Cebu, where they wanted to celebrate a day that combined earth and arts, so they tapped our University for a collaboration (being the only fashion school in the city at the time, two more have come up since then). They wanted us to incorporate upcycled or recycled materials into or looks, and after successfully using them during a previous project, I decided to use plastic cups.
The look I wanted to achieve was something tough, but still having soft and feminine qualities. I used red leather and lace for the top
A simple cut for the base just to keep things streamlined and all about the detail. At this point, I then started to slowly add cut-up strips of plastic cups on to the skirt.
I layered them to make them look like fabric manipulated into pleats (front and back). I used a hot glue gun to put everything on. π
Once I covered the entire skirt, I spraypainted everything a metallic red to cover all the glue marks, and it resulted into looking like armor which I absolutely loved!
The scale/pleat pattern of the front and the back were pretty much identical, and U used a metallic zipper to keep the look a little more hard-edged.
A close up of the pleating detail (Some of the plastic melted as you can see, but managed to cover that up. π )
The look on the model during show day! β€οΈ Those fabulous heel-less (think Gaga) boots were borrowed from a classmate of mine, Aia Tupas, who designed and had these made a few years back. π I just styled it to look sleek and modern l, as it was already the vibe of the entire dress. π
What do you guys think of this look? I would love to hear comments and suggestions from everybody! β€οΈ