by: Jane Englefield
Designer Helena Elston has created a collection of upcycled clothing made from mycelium and London-sourced textile waste, which explores "how we can produce beautiful things from discarded materials".
FI (Fungal Integrated) is an ongoing project by London-based Elston made up of various garments she creates using a combination of local waste products, including discarded textiles, coffee sacks and mycelium – the vegetative filaments of fungi.
A seamless dress is included in Helena Elston's collection
These pieces range from a seamless dress and a navy trouser suit to chunky heeled boots and a rugged jacket made from earthy-hued patches of hessian stitched together.
Elston appliques these surplus fabrics using a mycelium growth process that lasts for roughly six weeks, which produces wearable pieces that are designed to biodegrade once the wearer has finished with them.
The designer also created a navy trouser suit
"The growing environments are basically containers where I introduce nutrients and mycelium to the garments at a specific dampness, darkness and temperature," the designer, who is trying to patent her growing process and therefore cannot disclose its details in full, told Dezeen.
Once the garments are removed from this environment in Elston's studio in North Acton, they dry out and stop growing, after which they can be worn.
The designer said that the project is centred around the idea that the wearer could "fully decompose" these pieces once they have finished with them rather than disposing of them in landfill, reducing waste.
Read more here : https://www.dezeen.com/2022/12/06/helena-elston-decomposable-garments-mycelium/