Something old: Top award for recycled bridal gowns

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StoryShop Three pistillate (models called Ilona Chmiela, Reanna McGuire and Mandy Gibson) successful achromatic bridal dresses basal limb successful arm. Another woman, 2nd from the left, is casually dressed successful a pinkish apical and bluish trousers. They are lasting successful what looks similar a stairway with a achromatic partition successful the background.

A task based connected repurposing aged bridal dresses successful Glasgow has won a worldwide sustainability prize.

Glasgow Kelvin College was 1 of 2 UK institutions recognised astatine this year's planetary Green Gown awards.

The honour is bestowed upon the apical eco-friendly projects astatine colleges and universities astir the world.

Students astatine the assemblage were tasked with unpicking aged illustration wedding dresses and creating their own, caller designs from conscionable the pre-loved fabric.

Designers could lone usage parts of the aged gowns, including buttons and zips, to physique their designs from scratch.

Jo White Jo smiles astatine the camera. She has a reddish bob hairsbreadth chopped and wears a achromatic top. A works is successful the background.

Jo White, a 46-year-old mum of two, was 1 of the 16 designers moving connected the award-winning project.

She decided to articulation the manner plan people aft a agelong play of sick health.

Jo antecedently worked arsenic a cause rehabilitation officer, but aft a life-saving liver transplant made the determination to prosecute a caller career.

"I was precise sick for a agelong clip and I was housebound," she said.

"I needed to bash thing I knew I enjoyed due to the fact that I was truthful afloat of anxiousness from being poorly.

"I liked sewing truthful 1 of my friends said I should use for my HND and it went truly well."

Jo White A beaded achromatic corset with a cape successful the inheritance and trousers connected a mannequin

StoryShop Four formal designs are tacked onto mannequins successful a enactment shop. The archetypal 1 has a bluish sparkly bodice with a bluish and achromatic mesh skirt. The 2nd is achromatic and has a heavy V cervix and asymmetric detailing successful the shoulders and skirt. The 2nd is airy pinkish and astir genu magnitude with a precise heavy V down to astir the hips. The 4th has achromatic balls astir the size of a fist going diagonally crossed the dress. It has a abbreviated skirt with a longer mesh skirt implicit the top.

Jo present studies manner and concern astatine assemblage aft being urged to use by her assemblage lecturer.

"I beryllium truthful overmuch to those women," she added. "And I loved learning astir the full broadside of manufacturing.

"Bridal garments person truthful galore layers and the champion mode to recognize however they're made is by taking them apart."

The dresses utilized for the task were donated by Bijoux Bridal successful Hamilton which is managed by erstwhile pupil Rebecca Kennedy.

StoryShop A adjacent up representation of a bluish sparkly bodice of a formal connected a mannequin. Two mannequins are down and a pistillate is moving connected 1 of the dresses.

StoryShop A pistillate with a yellowish and achromatic garment and blonde hairsbreadth stands successful beforehand of mannequins with 4 formal designs tacked onto them. It is simply a store setting.

Sandra Thomson, the lecturer who ran the project, said the people focused connected sustainable oregon "slow" fashion.

Slow manner is simply a much sustainable attack to covering accumulation which prioritises prime and the situation implicit velocity and debased costs.

"There's a batch of radical retired determination who mightiness not deterioration a second-hand wedding dress," said Sandra.

"But they would astir apt beryllium rather blessed if it was a caller formal utilizing cloth from second-hand dresses.

"There's inactive truthful overmuch usable cloth successful these dresses. From the 10 dresses we were given, the people made 16 caller ones.

"And they weren't conscionable customised - the gowns were wholly unpicked to the fabric."

Sandra said she was "very strict" and designers were lone allowed to usage the second-hand dresses passim the process.

But luckily the archetypal dresses utilized luxurious worldly and were worthy £25,000.

"It meant the students were capable to usage truly precocious prime fabrics that they would ne'er person been capable to spend otherwise," she added.

"They had to beryllium clever and chopped astir immoderate marks oregon make-up successful the cloth to marque definite they utilized the precise champion parts."

Kelly Carlin A pistillate with airy brownish hairsbreadth smiles astatine the camera

Kelly Carlin, 20, started studying manner astatine the assemblage aft she near secondary schoolhouse astatine 16.

"Getting to analyse and unpick the layers and past wholly alteration the dresses was amazing," she said.

"The process made america beryllium much originative and we could tally chaotic with our ideas which would prolong the beingness of these garments.

"If we didn't bash that they would've ended up successful landfill, but we got truthful overmuch retired of each of them."

The dresses were aboriginal displayed astatine an end-of-year manner amusement earlier the assemblage recovered retired it had been shortlisted for the Next Generation Skills and Learning award.

Lecturer Sandra said: "We went down to the UK last and I was truthful blown distant by the different projects.

"I felt arsenic if we were the wee humble manner task amongst each these different large projects.

"But we won that - and past we went connected to triumph the planetary 1 arsenic well.

"There wasn't an anticipation erstwhile we got there, but we were perfectly delighted since we're rather a tiny department."