FIRST EXPOSURE

Recycled Icons

A collection of dresses inspired by the silhouettes and techniques used in vintage couture, each garment is made entirely from recycled iconic garments.

The challenge to create a couture inspired dress collection using recycled clothing has grown from a simple past time to a serious message that recycled garments can be made into something beautiful.

Gary, who for nearly 10 years was the Creative Director of Levi Strauss and Dockers Europe , began designing dresses out of creative frustration during his freelance work in fashion campaigns, "I needed some really dramatic pieces for a shoot I was working on and the first design evolved using 42 pairs of Levi's® 501's". Since that time his passion for creating recycled couture has taken over, and he's produced a stunning design using 18 Burberry macs and a body contouring gown using discarded baseball jackets. Gary is showing his two latest designs at FIRST.EXPOSURE, a fishtail corset dress using 28 camouflage army jackets, and the newspaper dress, made from 30 copies of the Financial Times. He comments: The desire behind this collection is about re-contextualising iconic everyday garments to creative dramatic new silhouettes".

Each piece Gary creates is totally unique and his now taking private commissions for his beautiful, socially conscious bespoke designs.