The height of TRASHION !
After a €545 dress by Nu was compared to a bin bag, we asked top designers to dream up their own creations. The results? Plastic fantastic!
THINK high fashion is a load of rubbish? You’re not alone. This week, social media was ablaze with comments about a black Jacquard Sleeveless Balloon Shirt Dress made by fashion company Nu.
A steal at €273 (down from €545), it bore an unfortunate resemblance to a bin bag. But can you really make an outfit from a bin bag?
Two of Europe’s most eminent fashion designers rose to the challenge. Jacques Azagury has dressed the likes of Helen Mirren, Kelly Brook, Helen McCrory, Amanda Holden and Princess Diana. He sketched two designs exclusively for the Mail, which he kindly gave us permission to try to make. And Caroline Castigliano, who has been at the forefront of luxury bridal and eveningwear for 30 years, fashioned a bin-bag dress on a mannequin. We also asked Wendy Benstead, a bespoke bridalwear and costume maker, to recreate designer outfits using only bin bags.
DESIGNER: Jacques Azagury
HE SAYS: This is the first time that I’ve ever designed outfits using bin bags as my medium but I didn’t want to make the designs too ornate. After all, if you’re going to use a bin bag, make it look like a bin bag.
And I thought that because you can get them with coloured ties, I’d work that idea into the design. The ties are essential to give definition, and a bit of styling so it doesn’t look rubbish!
I worked with the idea of using one bin bag for the off-the-shoulder style and three to create the design with sleeves. I think it is all about the volume — you need that volume to make it anything, and if you were trying to make it skintight, it would just tear.
If you’re a designer making a voluminous dress out of a shiny black fabric, there’s an inevitability that it’s going to get compared to a bin bag.
I recall I once made dresses out of a very silver panne velvet, and one was worn on television by a celebrity.
The next day everyone was talking about baking foil. But someone talking about your dress is always a good thing — if that Nu design hadn’t been compared to a bin bag, who would have seen it?