From waste to wearable fashion

This year's event brought together student designers from four different universities in Shanghai: NYU Shanghai, East China Normal University, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, and Shanghai Lida University.

Daniel Woc, a sophomore from Guatemala at NYU Shanghai, attended last year's show as part of the audience and found inspiration to showcase his own creativity. "Seeing all the wonderful and cool designs pushed me to be a designer this year," said the 19-year-old.

Woc collaborated with a friend to create four dresses representing the four elements of Western culture. Using delivery bags as their primary material, they skillfully mimicked the colors and textures symbolizing fire, water, earth, and air.

Yu Sixian and Xu Yiwen, both freshmen at NYU Shanghai, crafted a dress from a mix of "trash": price tags from clothes, chains made from soda can rings, and butterfly figures made from foam sticks. Despite these seemingly disparate elements, their message was clear: "Butterflies and flowers blooming on iron soda can rings symbolize the delicate relationship between the natural environment and industrial civilization," Yu said.

As these artists conveyed their messages through their works, they also absorbed inspiration from their peers. Yang pointed out a dress made from stitched-together pieces of drafting paper. "Drafting paper is often discarded at the end of the semester," she noted. "The sight of stacked drafting paper left a lasting impression on me, as if the model was wearing an entire semester's worth of studying on her."

An interesting fact is that many designers do not major in fashion design. For example, Xu is a neuroscience major and Yang majors in social sciences. However, they have all found joy and inspiration in the artistry of costume design.

For instance, Wang admitted overlooking the practical aspect of how a garment could be worn and removed by a real person instead of a mannequin. She addressed this issue by adding straps to the dress for better adjustment on the model. Yu discovered that by ironing plastic bags, they can wrinkle up and create a seaweed-like texture, adding a unique and stylish element to their creation.