From Blankets to Ball Gowns: Fashion Students Creativity Inspires

Photo Credit: 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day

Fashion students from Pretoria have turned a local mall into something of a runway with gowns and garments that look as if they were hand-picked from a futuristic ball where sustainability is king:

Pretoria, South Africa (04 July 2024) — Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria might as well be called the Brooklyn Ball at present after breathtaking gowns graced the shopping centre. You’d be forgiven for thinking this was the work of talented, cutting-edge designers, but you’d also be wrong. This was actually the work of fashion students who were challenged by one of South Africa’s favourite community-serving organisations to make some magic. Needless to say, the assignment was understood perfectly, and now we have gowns and garments that look as if they were hand-picked straight from a ball where sustainability rules the ton.

Here’s how the looks came to be: 67 Blankets for Mandela Day challenged the fashion students from the STADIO School of Fashion to create handcrafted looks made from an array of sustainable and upcycled materials. This was all part of an idea to show the public the unlimited potential repurposed materials have, as part of the Curated Collection campaign.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by STADIO School of Fashion (@stadio_fashionschool)

It’s something of a sustainable style showdown that’s got people talking for all the best reasons. But, it’s also something of a fairytale as the students became Cinderella’s mice and turned materials generally associated with a certain trope of look or altogether forgotten, into something much greater that can last for ages.

Commenting on the finished products, the 67 Blankets for Mandela Day team sang the student’s praises; sharing that their expectations were well surpassed.

You can visit the looks for yourself, and you might just be inspired to give that old knitted blanket a new lease on life in a way you’d never previously imagined.