HYDERABAD: Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality. You might have heard of sustainable fashion, but did you know you could upcycle plastic bags into a beautiful dress?
Designers and fashion enthusiasts in Hyderabad wish to have this fashion trend on the ramp to promote the concept that fashion can be made even from plastic bags and bottles. Komal Sudhakar, a fashion designer and founder of Uzoran agency, is curating a one-of-a-kind fashion show which is going to be all about recycling. The show will not only include models wearing recyclables and best-out-of-waste couture, but the props and decorations will also be made of recyclable materials.
Komal, through her fashion show, wants to draw people’s attention to how plastic bags, which most of us use and throw, can turn out to be unexpectedly beautiful clothing. “This concept of making dresses from plastic trash was started long ago when I was in college, in 2015. I won the innovative award for preparing something with plastic covers and stapler pins. Since then, I have been fixated on this. People in the fashion industry have created wonders using this concept,” he says.
The show will showcase everything that can be recycled or that is ‘not of use’; right from the decorations to the carpets. “We will use dry branches, newspapers and cartons in our decor. The idea is to make people aware that the things they junk can be turned into something beautiful. In a few years, India will accept this trend. Everyone in the fashion and movie industries has been doing their part in promoting it.”
For the upcoming show, Komal has designed a dress made of only two things — trash bags and tape. “Draping a model with these bags is the difficult part, as we also have to keep in mind reactions to the skin. I first made my model wear the first layer of the trash bag by tearing it and then taped it on her waist and bust. Later, I shaped the neckline. For the sleeves, I used the leftover bits of the trash bag, which I taped from the back to the front.”
Shivali Ganda, a 23-year-old who won the title of Miss Telangana and Miss India Super Model Best Catwalk, is Komal’s model. “I have always loved fashion that’s creative. For this event, my dress will be made and designed on my body. This is very different from what we see in the usual fashion shows. The dress is a cute short frock with a perfect v-neck. It also has a hood and a long cape,” she says.
Sriya Bundugula, a fashion designer and alumnus of Hamstech, shares that during her first year of fashion designing, they were asked to make a ballgown out of waste. “For this, we had used garbage bags and waste CDs.”
Similarly, John Emmanuel George, who is studying drag culture and fashion, shares that trash bags and such unconventional items have been in use in western countries for quite some time now. Using trash bags has been in the mainstream fashion industry. This definitely came to people’s attention after Komal Pandey did it in India. “There is this show called RuPaul’s drag race, which is a mainstream drag reality show, where every contestant has to design a costume made of trash.
Fashion is always thought of as something that is expensive and that looks great. But trash bags and other waste are often associated with garbage. Garbage is something you put in the trash bag and not the trash bag itself. Trash bags are often recycled and when they make clothes out of it, I think it looks extremely appealing, high-fashioned and is affordable.”