The direction I have taken for this project revolves around key terms of “circular fashion”, “re-design” and “re-arrangement”. When a garment is already at our hands, we have no power in changing its ways of manufacturing and production to influence a garment’s end life. However, we have an option to redirect a linear economy model to a circular model, whereby reuse, re-design and recycle occurs after the stage of consumer usage, eliminating the necessity of extracting new resources. Hence this circular model promotes sustainability and increases the longevity of a garment.

In extension, have pulled out bags of clothing from my closet archives and these clothes were either going to become fabric wastes or to be donated. I found multiple pairs of jeans that are no longer in style and desirable, but still in good conditions then I took the chance and selected the ones that I definitely would not go back to.

The designing process started with an idea generated from my recent online shopping experience, whereby I got addicted in leather jackets, especially the one with a neck strap, which had the punkish vibe that I was searching for. Consequently, the first inspiration I’ve got from the denim jeans is its belt part, where I saw potential of re-designing it into a neck strap with ease.

The rest of the garment consists of elements from patchwork. This was inspired by one of the looks from Junya Watanabe’s collection ‘Hard Rock Romance’, whereby I incorporated the denim patchwork dress in one of my collages.

I worked in a random manner during the cutting process, and order comes in when I started the patching process since function of the garment and the seam allowance needed to be considered. I have also tried to incorporate original illustrations on the surface of the material; however, acrylic paint was not the best candidate for the effect I wanted.

The final outcome connects back to my original intent, which was to re-design and re-arrange, following circular fashion model, and I see chances of going back to this de-designed prototype in the future.

Final video: