Paper fashions hit the runway in Denver

World Today

They’re often big, splashy events that allow fashion designers to showcase their upcoming lines of clothing. Fashion shows often feature very innovative and cutting-edge creations. Now imagine a fashion show involving outfits made entirely of paper.

CCTV’s Hendrik Sybrandy reports from Colorado.

Paper: It’s one of the most important things we have in this world. We use it to communicate, to educate. It’s easy to replicate. Paper is the foundation of the countless number of products we use every day.

And now we’re wearing paper in Paris-style fashion shows.

We dropped in recently on Denver, Colorado’s Paper Fashion Show, the largest such show in the U.S. It’s a charity event where models hit the runway clad in paper-made dresses and costumes, each a bit more “inspired” than the one before. Well-known paper mills contributed the materials.

Over 40 students, designers and artists sculpted these creations. According to show organizers, each model will have 300 hours of design and intricate paperwork involved.

It was no run-of-the-mill material they used. High-quality paper with names like Neenah Stardream, Mohawk Curious Metallics and French Construction helped form fashions like Dark Dragon.

As the dragon’s designers discovered, its heavier paper can make weight distribution on models a bit of a challenge. Paper is very fragile and designer say you have to be really strategic about how you engineer, particularly for a woman’s form.

Those in the paper industry say that paper is a very underrated way of conveying thoughts and emotions.

“It is very sexy. It is very sexy,” Teri Hill of Legion Paper said. “Last time, I checked we were still human. We still use our tactile senses. Paper is part of communication. It’s where it should start.”

From depictions of the mythic to history to various cultures, there’s beauty in paper. There’s more to this product than we thought.

Paper may be easy to copy, but the fashions it helps shape are a breed unto their own.