Better Living Through Chemistry

One word: plastics.

So, The American Chemistry Council partnered with GenArt to sponsor a "Plastics Make it Possible" fashion design competition, with the winner to receive $10,000 and a chance to show their work at the GenArt show during NY Fashion Week. Now, there are a lot of these types of industry-sponsored competitions in the fashion world and more often than not, the results are nothing to write home about, which is why you never see us writing about it. Well, there are two reasons we're writing about this one. One: the winning designs are gorgeous and two: we figured our minions would be interested in the winners. Who are they, you ask?

None other than Project Runway Season 5 contestants Wesley Nault and Daniel Feld. Congrats, boys!

"After sifting through 161 entries, 322 looks, and more than 5,000 online comments, we’re proud to announce that the design team of Wesley Nault and Daniel Feld (together known to the fashion world as WesFeld) are the 2009 Plastics Make it Possible^SM Design Competition winners! The contest, launched by the American Chemistry Council and Gen Art in October of 2009, challenged designers to create two women’s wear “looks” made from plastic or plastic-based materials. Designers were enticed by the offer of a $10,000 stipend and an opportunity to show a plastic-based line at New York Fashion Week in February 2010.

Though competition was fierce, WesFeld rose to the top with their use of plastics in creating two looks they titled, “Oceanic Structures.” These wave-like dresses feature materials, such as poly-organza and poly-taffeta, while plastic woven interfacing and plastic boning structure each panel. Even the piping, which gives the dress a satin-like luxury shimmer, is poly. From fiber to fit, these seashell inspired gowns truly are made possible by plastics."

And here's what the boys had to say about their winning designs:

"The inspiration for this set is inspired by oceanic structures that wash up on shore and slowly bleach out in color by the sun… Emulating the armorial like panels found in nature was not an easy task.. Thankfully after long periods of experimenting we discovered that the plastic woven interfacing and plastic boning would give us the ability to morph our opaque fabrications into something that came to life… Thank you for taking the time to look and understand our creation…We hope you enjoy it."



"Look #1 (gradiating shades of pale pinks) inspired by a conch sea shell. The segments of this gown relate to the shells engraved texture.The woman wearing the gown is symbolic to the precious pearl found within a sea shell. The design's material include: Poly-organza, poly- taffeta, plastic woven interfacing (to structure each an every panel) plastic boning, and peek-a-boo mesh ruffles."




"Look #2 ( pale Dove Gray) a stuctured and textured gown inspired by the fossilized exo skeleton of a trilobite and seahorse's paneled body... The design's material include: Poly-organza, plastic Woven interfacing (to structure each an every panel), plastic boning, as well as poly-satin piping detail.

We have to admit, those dresses are absolutely gorgeous. Just goes to show that you can't always get a sense of the designer from a crazy competition like Project Runway, although we should have seen this coming because Daniel once produced one of the more memorable looks from the show by making another dress entirely out of plastic:

The much-remembered plastic cup dress. You've come a long way, boys! We're glad to see them both still working together and making a name for themselves. We'll be checking in with them soon and we'll see if we can get more pictures of those amazing dresses for you to ooh and ahh over.


[Photos: plasticsmakeitpossible.com/Getty Images/BravoTV.com]


Post a Comment