Trash Couture was an experimental fashion project I led during my undergraduate studies, where I designed and created outfits for an intra-college fashion show—winning first place. Centered on the theme “Heaven and Hell,” the collection explored contrast and duality while embedding ideas of circularity and material re-use.

Using discarded paper and origami techniques, the outfits gave new life to a waste material typically destined for disposal. By transforming paper into structured, sculptural garments, the project challenged linear notions of “use and discard” and instead framed waste as a resource capable of repeated value creation. The contrast between delicacy and rigidity mirrored the tension between abundance and excess, renewal and neglect.

Through Trash Couture, I explored circularity not just as a sustainability principle, but as a design mindset—one where materials are reimagined, narratives are extended, and design plays an active role in shifting how we perceive value, longevity, and consumption.