Pantyhose or thights are a big no-no for the eco-concious fashionista since they are made nylon (= polymere plastic). They brake easily and therefore are often thrown away after just few uses. I prefer to use only fish-net thights because I have noticed them to be more durable and therefore I buy maybe 5 pairs a year.
Maria Lau makes jewelry and other werables from thights and other recycled material by braiding and binding them together with beads and luxurious pearls. She has worked with fashion houses like Michiko Koshino and DKNY to name a few.
In case you did not know, re-using pantyhose in new ways is a bit of a joke in Finland. A local food market chain K-Kauppa used to publish "today´s pantyhose tips" (Finnish "sukkahousuvinkki") in their magazine
Pirkka. Hilarious stuff like "Slip a champagne bottle in a pair of pantyhose when popping the cork. This way the cork will not fly to anyones head and hurt them". People claimed to use thights for almost anything and I do not doubt that some meant what they wrote in. The magazine actually paid for good tips... Anyway, if you do make something from recycled thights and want to wear them in Finland, make them so well that people don´t realize them being thights and don´t advertise the original material... Some people just wouldn´t get the trashion aspect. I´m sure this is not the case in the rest of the world. We are a funny nation sometimes.
How to make a
thights necklace, a tutorial by Smaggle Style. Made from thicker winter thights.
Thight dress in Discarded to Devine fashion show in San Francisco.
I remebered seeing this dress in the inside cover of Destenys Child´s album. Look at the middle dress. I think it looks exactly the kind of design I would go for when using recycled thights. Although nylon can be a very "hot" material to wear, since it´s plastic, the dress has to be lined with jersey. Even the pearls are not a problem! I have a box full of wooden beads at home. The beads were salvaged from a dumster, a thrown away driver´s wood bead seat cover. They have been waiting for a project like this. I think the worn down wood beads and skincolored granny thights would get a major facelift on this kind of a project. Now I wonder what metal zippers (canvas part cut out) would look like mixed and bound up with thights....? My friends will propably think I´ve gone insane if I ask them to give me their cast off thights...? Have to think of a diplomatic approach.
Maria Lau´s link found via
Style Bubble fashion blog.
