2.10.2010

My first couture wedding dress

...crafted from sustainable paper!

Photos by me; collage by Botanical Paperworks

Two months ago, I finished stitching together a mountain of plantable seed paper with cotton thread for my first semester's final project.

The prompt? To create a garment without using fabric, and with some kind of used or recycled material. Most students sourced old factory materials and waste products, and created all sorts of interesting confections from scrap vinyl, shoelaces, egg cartons, etc.

But reusing materials only go so far- eventually they would become waste after the final design. Thus, my mind started spinning in a different direction- how could I design without leaving any carbon footprint whatsoever?

Then I remembered an innovative packaging material I had once seen. A few years ago, when I worked for LUSH Cosmetics, they had created a limited edition gift box, and the packaging had been a biodegradable paper embedded with flower seeds.

All of a sudden, I got really, really excited about this material. So I sent out some queries. And to my delight, Botanical Paperworks, a company that creates this paper from 100% post-consumer waste for special-occasion stationery, agreed to sponsor my project and sent me a hundred 14x17" sheets of it!

And the Plantable Wedding Dress was born.

My presentation board/illustration.

Want to see the final dress? Botanical Paperworks blogged about my project and the final product here! You can also see more photos on my website. I'll keep you updated on whether it makes it into our annual fashion show in May!

What do you guys think? I would love to see a revolution of greener bridal wear, considering how many wedding dresses see the light of day once, then disappear into attics or closets forever!

Love,
Tee

6 comments:

Rho said...

love the roses XD

that's so cool! keep up the great work!

Charmalade said...

I can't help it; this dress reminds me of that one challenge they had in Project Runway, where the objective was basically the same thing as what you had to do. I think it was a very innovative choice for fabric! It certainly gave it loads of structure and volume. Great work!

http://charmalade.blogspot.com

Tee said...

Rose: Thank you!

Charmalade: Haha, the comparison is unavoidable, and I'll be the first to admit the assignment was rather cheesy. But thank you for your kind words :)

Julianne said...

i LOVE the concept of this dress. sounds lovely!

Venus said...

I agree with Charmalade!! Its really revolutionary!

Tee said...

Thanks so much, guys!