Plastic waste is one of the biggest dangers to the environment due to its toxic nature and long breakdown period. Designer Iris Van Herpen recently decided to raise awareness about this problem by creating five stunning garments that are completely made out of recycled plastic.
For this project, Van Herpen teamed up with the nonprofit environmental organization Parley for the Oceans and used their Parlay Ocean Plastic fabric. The material comes from the plastic waste the organization collects from the world’s oceans and shores through their Parley Global Cleanup Network.
This isn’t the first time Van Herpen uses Parlay Ocean Plastic fabric in her works, having previously used the material for parts of her collection Roots of Rebirth.
“Parley for the Oceans has great expertise in recycling plastic from the ocean and transforming it beautifully into soft upcycled fabrics. The quality of their fabrics is really refined, and therefore perfectly suitable for haute couture also,” said Van Herpen.
Van Herpen had help from other artists on this project. This included French-British paper artist Rogan Brown, who contributed with his expertise in lace-like artworks and proficiency in coral reef-inspired designs. Visual artist James Merry, on the other hand, was responsible for the jewelry that was part of the collection.
