Today Online 6 Sep 08;
GUNNY sacks, rubber bands, plastic bottle caps and toothpaste tubes aren’t the items you would usually find on a fashion designer’s shopping list.
But a group of eco-friendly designers here have spotted the style potential in these mundane materials. They’ve used them to create rice sack shorts, rubber band suspenders and bottle cap chokers, among other pieces. These can be viewed and bought at the inaugural Corrugated Party, which takes place this weekend at MAAD (Market of Artists and Designers) at Red Dot Design Museum.
The Corrugated Party is the brainchild of three New Media graduates of Republic Polytechnic’s School of Technology for the Arts. Foong Wai Harng, Huang Yong Zhi and Ashikin Hashim — aged 19 and 20 — started RecycloFashion last year as part of their final year project to make eco-fashion relevant for anyone who loves to dress up.
“Eco-fashion to us means creatively reusing old clothes or rubber bands. We’re more literal with our material usage. We love the idea of a dress made of cardboard,” Ashikin told Today.
For the Corrugated Party, Ashikin and her former schoolmates rounded up six eco-designers and brands such as Didier Ng and Riverkids. Prices start at about $5 for earrings made from parts of recycled tyres. Rubber band suspenders and rice sack shorts can be customised.
Also, expect a red carpet-inspired Fashion Ferosh Booth where you can strike a pose in front of a recycled cardboard mural and have your photos taken.
Harng, who’s waiting to be enlisted for National Service, said he hopes more publicity can be given to eco-fashion. He added: “It’s all about looking at eco-fashion from a fresh perspective, which many fashion designers today are capable of.”
If his dreams come true, eco-designers and their use of recyclable materials would become much more in demand. The karung guni man, though, won’t be pleased.
Recyclo’s Corrugated Party runs this weekend at Red Dot Design Museum, 28 Maxwell Road. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.recyclofashion.com. Pearlyn Tham
