A group of fashion design students were recently challenged with a unique runway project.
The students were asked to take what would be otherwise known as “trash” and turn it into apparel that the wearer simply couldn’t live without.
The challenge was part of the iStyle Fashion KL International Airport 2011 design competition. Creative students still under training in fashion design school successfully met their challenge by utilizing scraps of plastic, paper, and drink bottles.
The winning students were from the fashion design school at SML Fashion Academy and used the debris to create sustainable fashion designs. The challenge put the students’ newly acquired skills under the spotlight and created an intense situation in which the fashion design students worked under pressure to create their design in three stages of competition.
Sustainable fashion design, or eco fashion is getting much attention in recent years as young fashion designers and fashion design schools move into an era ruled by the thought that sustainability is critical to the future. Vogue magazine started talking about sustainable fashion in 2007 mentioning that it would likely be a lasting trend in the fashion design industries.
The unique competition required the fashion design students to use paper in round one, followed by round two with metal, and round three was dedicated to plastic. Each of the rounds also had a specific garment for the fashion designer to-be.
The paper round was intended for the students to design a child’s accessories, the plastic round was intended to result in recycled men’s clothing, and the metal round was a cocktail dress – something the students found most challenging. Their metal cocktail dress created by the winning team from SML fashion design school was set in the 1960’s era, but many creative designs were presented to judges from other students.
