Fashion designer Iris van Herpen has unveiled a haute couture dress constructed from ocean plastic fabric produced by Parley for the Oceans, which was cut into trilateral pieces to form a tessellated, translucent garment.
The dress forms part of Van Herpen's Roots of Rebirth Spring/Summer 2021 collection, which referenced "the intricacy of funghi" and the interconnectedness of mushrooms and especially mycelium, the tubular filaments that funghi use to grow.
Top: model Nyarach Abouch Ayuel, on the right, wearing the dress backstage. Photo is by Molly SJ Lowe. Above: the Holobiont dress on the catwalk
Van Herpen used a variety of different materials when designing the collection, which consisted entirely of dresses.
For the sixth look on the catwalk, the Holobiont dress, Van Herpen used Parley for the Oceans' trademarked Ocean Plastic fabric. The material is made from upcycled marine waste, sourced from the estimated eight million tons of plastic waste that end up in our oceans every year. Parley for the Oceans collects plastic debris from shores and oceans, which is shredded and reworked into yarn.
The garment is made from laser-cut ocean plastic fabric
Implementing these kinds of sustainable and recyclable materials into the collections is an ongoing development in her atelier, Van Herpen told Dezeen.
"We do a lot of material development in-house and we also collaborate with companies and institutes globally, like Parley for the Oceans," she said.
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