Paper Couture Exhibition returns to Oakridge
Vancouver design students create gowns made of paper
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The delicate gowns appear to be painstakingly constructed; each detail, ranging from knife pleats to floral appliqués, applied with the utmost of care.
It’s difficult to believe each one is constructed from paper.
Part of the Paper Couture Exhibition on display at Oakridge Centre, which is back for its sixth season, the collection of gowns sees students from the Design Formation Program at Langara College construct couture pieces from unexpected materials.
“The students at Langara College took their creations to the next level this year. These paper-made gowns are truly remarkable,” Bonney Rempel, the senior marketing director for the shopping centre, said of the collection in a news release.
In addition to paper, the unique couture pieces features additional recyclable elements including paper twine, coffee filters and string alongside slightly more conventional notions such as tapes, glue and thumbtacks. Each sustainable creation was inspired by the original designs of famous fashion houses such as Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Versace.
“The students experiment and explore couture fashion history, and they problem solve to find solutions and techniques to work with a variety of everyday and common materials to recreate these haute couture gowns as paper sculptures,” Kevin Smith, a Design Formation Program instructor at Langara, explained in the release. “I am continually impressed at how innovative, willing and adventurous the students are with the simple resources that they have to work with, and how well they can manipulate these materials to meet the desired effect. Their attention to detail is phenomenal and the dresses are truly works of art.”
The group of students were given only four weeks, equating to 16 in-class hours, to finalize their designs — and also to create them using the range of materials. The Paper Couture Exhibition will remain on display in the East Galleria of Oakridge Centre through May 12.
Design Formation is a two-year design foundation program that aims to prepare students in “technical and conceptual aspects” of design. Students are trained in both 2D and 3D applications.
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