No, this top isn’t woven from human skin but something potentially even more gross: Bacteria.
Using a bathtub mixture of yeast, bacteria and sweetened green tea, designer Suzanne Lee produces extremely thin sheets of bacterial cellulose. When wet, they’re pliable, and can be shaped into clothing. The seams are simply “sewn” by squeezing two sheets together.
Once dry, you get what ecoutree describes as a “papyrus-like surface”—which doesn’t sound so comfortable to wear, but hey, sustainability! Rah rah!
My issue with this bacterial fashion isn’t just its, well, complete, utter, lack of appeal. My issue is that, on the designer’s site, the method is teased with the phrase: “Imagine if we could grow clothing…”
This may come as a surprise to some, but mankind is actually very, very good at growing clothing. We call it cotton. Through slightly less direct methods, we call it wool and silk. And if we’re really scraping the barrel, feel free to sweep up the floor after my quarterly haircut. [Bio-couture via ecoutree via inhabitat]
