10 x lifestyleCONTACT US AT: 8351-9186, DEBRA_LIDAN@163.COM

Fri/Sat/Sun December 15~17, 2017

Debra Lidebra_lidan@163.com

AS proof that style and sustainability can happily co-exist, an eco-friendly fashion design contest put the efforts of young designers who are trying to make this world a better place in the spotlight.

At the fi nals of the First China (Shenzhen) International Ecologic Fashion Design Contest, sponsored by local brand Awakening, was a refresh-ing runway presenting the works of 24 young and Earth-conscious fashionistas to jury and audience members Tuesday night at InterContinental Shenzhen in OCT, Nanshan District.

The 24 were shortlisted from 1,168 contestants — design students or young designers from more than 100 schools and studios across China and from Japan, South Korea, Spain, Italy, France and Britain.

Some innovate on traditional crafts and techniques (like experiment-ing with plant dyes); some pride

themselves on upcycling (a dress made of leftover fabrics and tossed away gar-ments? Yes, indeed); others use eco-friendly materials like Tyvek or proclaim their beliefs with slogans stitched onto their designs.

Walking away with the golden award and 150,000 yuan (US$22,700) of prize

money was Ye Guoping from South China Agricultural University. His win-ning collection, called “Da Xiang Wu Xing,” used natural dyes to process vari-ous fabrics recycled from used clothes before sewing them into new outfi ts. Incorporating abstract elephant patterns with eye-catching caps modeled after the animal’s tusks, the collection was also a statement for protecting wild species and the natural environment.

Independent designer Ma Liang won the silver award with a black-and-white collection featuring tie-dyed fabrics and traditional fl ower patterns infused with an innovative spin. Using natural materials like cotton and linen, his designs paid homage to sustainable Chi-nese folk traditions.

The bronze went to Span-ish Clara Corominas Sotero, a student of LCI Barcelona. Her winning collection, fea-turing bright yellow from tur-meric dye often seen in India, used materials she collected on tours to 10 countries: Beads people threw away in Tanzania, cotton and silk fabrics from Indian, knits from her native Spain and mountaineering

ropes from Costa Rica were given new life in her designs. “Yellow is the color of hope and prosperity,” she said. “I upcycled things from many places to remind people

that we make waste all the time, in all places.”

I n d e p e n d e n t designer Yao Yu was given a special prize by the contest sponsor for her collection “Mon-ster,” reworked from dirty clothes people threw away, a common

practice in our current era of “fast

fashion.”Japanese Sen Sakura,

a student from the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua Uni-versity, won the best accessory design award for her collection “A Perfect Mess,” a project of matching fabrics from various used clothes of

miscellaneous colors. The award for best craft went to Yang Yue from Beijing

Institute of Fashion Technology. In his collection, named “Mother’s Memory,” he altered his mother’s old clothes into men’s wear, fl aunting more than 60 embroidery techniques in the fi nal product.

The award for best eco concept went to Greta Moroni from Italy, who named her collection “Utopia:

For a Positive World.” Her garments, all made of natural fabrics, can be worn in different ways. With prints and embroi-deries of words that send a loud message of environmental protection, the designs focus on the possibility of designating one garment for various occasions.

Sandie Guitart, an independent designer from France, was given the award for best business value. Using hand woven fabrics from Myanmar, most undyed and some dyed with coffee residue, the collec-tion called “Cotton and Lotus” bears an impeccably detailed design.

The 10-member jury consisted of top designers and professors of design insti-tutes from home and abroad, including Wu Hong, dean of the Art and Design Institute of Shenzhen University and Gabriel Torres, Design and Art educa-tion director of LCI Barcelona. Online voters also designated fi ve winners of “most popular eco designs.”

Eco-friendly fashion celebrated

Lia launches ‘world’s fi rst’ fl ushable pregnancy testANYONE who has ever taken a pregnancy test will appreciate that it is a nerve-rack-ing experience, no matter which result you’re hoping for. That’s especially the case if you wind up needing to take the test in a public restroom — and even more so if you’re trying to keep it quiet and have to fi gure out a discreet way to dispose of the thing.

Thankfully, a fl ushable option is on its way: Introducing Lia, the world’s fi rst fl ushable pregnancy test, which launches next year.

Talking to TechCrunch, co-founder Bethany Edwards of the U.S. startup

behind the product said, “It’s been the same stick test since 1987, and that’s kind of crazy.”

Lia will react to urine in the same way as a regular test — showing two lines for “pregnant” and one line for a negative result.

The “modernized” design is made from the same non-woven, natural plant fi bres that make up most toilet paper. The test-ing kit weighs less than six squares of toilet paper.

It’s designed to repel water for long enough to take the test, but then to be fl ushed away and eventually biodegrade.

So not only does it protect your privacy, it is also environmentally friendly, which can only be a good thing in a world where plastics are wreaking havoc on marine wildlife.

According to the makers of Lia, the test performs with a 99 percent accuracy rate when taken on the day of the user’s expected period.

Lia has just recently been FDA approved and is set to hit Amazon some time in 2018, with prices ranging from about US$9 to US$22.

Whether or not you get the result you were after, at least you can rest easy

knowing that your test won’t be sitting in a landfi ll.

The release of Lia also highlights chang-ing attitudes towards female health prod-ucts, as seen in the Nixie Girl menstrual cup which aims to normalize periods, and the growing trend towards more sustain-able female health products such as the mCycle tampon which can be turned into compost. (SD-Agencies)

“Mother’s Memory” by Yang Yue.“Mother’s Memory” by Yang Yue. Photos by Sun Yuchen and SGIAPhotos by Sun Yuchen and SGIA “Cotton and Lotus” by Sandie Guitart.“Cotton and Lotus” by Sandie Guitart. “Spero” by Clara Corominas Sotero.“Spero” by Clara Corominas Sotero.