Recyclable materials including milk jugs, bicycle inner tubes, laundry detergent bottles, bread tags and various found elements are assembled into mechanical fabrics. Most dresses work as a result of gravity’s stretching pull on a diagonal grid made into a tube (an enlarged version of woven fabric) allowing the dress to conform to the human figure.

Wear-ability is critical to the viability and concept of these garments. All are designed to be worn for an evening out with the ability to accommodate sitting, walking and dancing. Each dress fits a range of 2-3 figure sizes without alteration.

HDPE plastic, that used in the lowly milk jug, has remained pliable and strong since I made my first mechanical fabric in 1996. The point of the original dresses was not to say people should be wearing cut-up milk jugs every day, but just that the the materials of day to day modern life still have amazing properties and value at the point we typically thow them away.

Photo Credits: Brent Bingham Photography (the great ones)

Photo Credit: Karl Krueger / Architect (detail vignettes)