You probably won’t be seeing this dress in the racks of Forever 21 anytime soon, but one amateur designer is getting a lot of raised eyebrows and even praise from expert stylists for his innovative condom dress.
That’s right, condoms.
As part of his graduation project at Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, designer student Nguyen Minh Tuan made a special dress fashioned out of 700 condoms.
The dress – aptly named, “Condom Glow Fashion” – is part of his bigger project titled “Breaking the Condom Taboo” which is meant to challenge what he perceived as the critical attitude of the Vietnamese people towards sex and the use of condoms as well as ultimately raise public awareness for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.
“I made this project in the hope of raising the self-consciousness and awareness of Vietnamese people towards protecting their loved ones by avoiding STDs,” Tuan said. “I want people to know about the function of the condom on health protection.”
Quynh Trang, the model of the photo shoot, said she was impressed by the idea.
“It’s a creative idea. It is instructive for the youths as well as the community,” Trang said. “I hope the project will receive positive response from the public. I’m proud to be part of such a meaningful campaign.”
Tuan’s dress is also getting a lot of praise from various stylists, such as Los Angeles-based style expert Lindsay Albanese, who has worked with celebs like Paula Abdul, Heather Morris from “Glee” and former “Bachelorette” star Ali Fodotowsky.
“You’d never know it’s made of condoms,” Albanese told The Huffington Post. “It was done very tastefully. It looks like it was done by a big-name designer. I am very surprised.”
She says the dress is of a design that naturally flatters a number of different body types. “However, it does have ruffles and that adds volume to the hips.”
“This definitely is ‘an original’ as they say. The idea behind it is great for raising awareness,” said fashion blogger Wendy Eustache. “The cut of the dress is fabulous and the addition of the empire waistline is great.”
Atlanta-based stylist Intiasar Ziyed is also a fan of the condom dress although she admits that condom-inspired fashion has been done before.
“Technically, condoms as apparel is actually not a new concept — after all, it is only latex,” Ziyed said. “However, the fact that this designer is using condoms in their original form is something that can be considered innovative and fresh.”
What do you think, collegiettes™? Is Tuan’s condom dress trendy or just trashy?