The lifestyle and entertainment pages of the Daily News have long been a source of inspiration for followers of fashion, but now a Bluff resident has taken things a step further and sewn together a dress using pages from the paper.
Designer and photographer Natasha Niemand said she was inspired to design her own little newsprint number for a “trashionshow” at an eManzimtoti sports cafe.
Niemand, 24, said she and a friend, Tania van den Heever, each designed three garments for the event at Lords and Legends.
“The show was all about recycling, reusing and just coming up with some extraordinary designs,” she said.
Niemand, who graduated with a B-tech in Fashion Design from the Durban University of Technology last year, said it took them three weeks to complete six garments.
“It felt like it took forever, as you can imagine, sewing paper and plastic has never been the easiest thing to do,” she said.
Niemand used paper, newspaper and some tissue paper in her dresses. She also used a pen to write love quotes on the paper, as well as some buttons.
“For the lace-up of the outfits, I used strips and some string.
“Van den Heever’s outfits were made completely of plastic bags, and she used some orange buttons for decorations.
“Tania actually never got the chance to study, but she is so talented and driven and has such a passion for creating her own garments that I helped her wherever I could and guided her along the way, especially when it came to making the patterns,” Niemand said.
A staunch believer in saving the planet, Niemand said she was developing a curriculum which could be used to teach disadvantaged people how to employ their talents creatively using recyclable materials.
“I’m hoping to have it up and running in the near future, as I’m still trying to get the necessary funding, in terms of equipment, supplies and venue,” Niemand said.
She said if people realised that wearing something made of recycled items was not “just to save the environment, but also a little bit fashionable”, they would eventually accept it as a trend.
“I do think, it is up to the designers to incorporate more recyclable trends into their designs,” she said.
An avid Daily News reader, Niemand said she tries to read as much as she can about what is going on in the world.
“The Daily News never disappoints and I find that the paper itself covers quite a broad spectrum of stories which is lovely. At times I find some really interesting articles about fashion, which I tear out and keep,” she said. - Daily News