I’m going to take a wild guess that the majority of you, our Jalopnik readers, have no idea who Jeremy Scott is, and that’s okay. His work is likely far beyond your realm. But if I could equate the eclectic-ness of the renowned fashion designer, judge on Amazon Prime’s Making the Cut, and former Moschino creative director to a car brand, he would skew towards a love child between Elton John and, as my colleague Collin Woodard suggested, a Spyker. If you need a broader picture, Scott’s fashion collections consist of colorful, playful, edgy and whimsical pieces, toeing the line between daring-to-wear everyday clothes and bold statement pieces. As Jalops, we love it.
Now take that approach, but make all the items in the fashion collection from scrap car parts. The possibilities may look a lot like Scott’s latest collaboration with Hyundai as part of the automaker’s Re:Style 2023.
One of the centerpieces of the 2023 “style initiative” collection is a floor-length gown made entirely of wiring from a vehicle’s electrical system — including the bustier. Another dress is made up of “chained” pieces of side and rearview mirrors – while another includes windshield wipers. According to CNN, the avant-garde fashion-show pieces — or as Scott coined them, “haute car-ture” — all include scrap car material, but if worn, all of it could easily fit in at a red-carpet or gala event (though Scott told CNN that would be rather difficult). Maybe more of a gala or couture showcase, but these are designs from a man who has dressed Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Bjork. The lines to cross on the red carpet there are about nonexistent.
Anyway, while you likely care as much about this as you do about the people making purses out of seatbelts (which are relatively cool), what’s important here is continuing the conversation and collaboration of ideas regarding sustainability — making use of the things we’ve already made. Most car companies, Hyundai included, are pushing to reach sustainability goals in the coming decades. But aside from making new, energy-efficient cars, part of the process has to be recycling, or in this case, “upcycling,” the things we’ve have already produced. If a designer can make an entire floor-length dress out of the miles of wiring in your car, what other things could we make with those resources that would prevent them from sitting in a garbage dump for the next several centuries?
Scott’s designs might not be the most practical for everyday wear — that’s sort of the point for this particular collaboration — but his designs and unique approach have always struck awe into the fashion world. Now, this particular collection opens up the world of possibilities of what we can do with the piles of junk, scraps and garbage society is constantly producing, especially in the automotive space.