Dubai Students Design Gown from Garbage Gain International Recognition

UAE: three Dubai students have made it to the finals of a prestigious international recycling competition for designing a sustainable & fashionable dress made out of sweet wrappers.

The students are Grade 8 students studying at Swiss International School Dubai (SISD) and have earned a place at the Junk Kouture World Finals in London to showcase their creative dress design, ‘Candylicious.’

Violette, Sacha, and Mia began working on this fashion project as part of an after-school activity and hobby. Their age is between 13 and 14.

The 3 students crafted a colorful and chic dress out of sweet wrappers which they collected during Halloween. They also collected pasta packaging, chip bags, food labels and popsicle sticks.

“We went through several fashion magazines and browsed through red carpet looks before settling on this design,” said Sascha.

“We wanted to convey the impact of pollution nowadays, especially plastic and trash going into landfill,” added Violette. “Food industries produce so many packaged foods everyday, and all those wrappers can harm the environment.”

Junk Kouture is a yearly, international recycled fashion competition that challenges students aged 13 to 18 to craft, create, and model high-end couture made from recycled materials.