One of the leading ladies of the industry, Kerry Washington, has come up with her third jewelry collection. Like the previous two lines, this collection is also a collaborative effort of Washington and Aurate, the sustainable futuristic light jewelry brand. The collection, named ‘Be the Lead,’ consists of five stunning sustainably sourced and gender-fluid pieces. Every genderless piece of the trinkets features gold finishes with Art Deco detailing, topped with a touch of topaz. Let’s check out the unique collection here.

Instant Beauty Beyond Gender

Kerry Washington explained that, jewelry was part of her fashion or beauty ritual. It stayed with her all the time. She has found jewelry as the most intimate form of fashion, which instantly makes anyone feel beautiful. This finely detailed lightweight collection is all about bringing out that special instant feeling of beauty. And beauty is something, which is not associated with any particular gender. While we often make the mistake of associating jewelry commonly with women, it is not always the case. And that’s why the collection has changed its name from ‘Leading Ladies’ to ‘Be the Lead,’ and adopting a genderless approach. This unique norm-breaking jewelry collection is created to embrace and express the inner beauty of any person beyond gender boundaries.

Ethical Sourcing Toward Sustainability

Aurate is one of those unique brands that have high regard for its strict commitment to sustainability. All the designer pieces are hand-crafted using sustainable and ethically sourced 14 or 18 karat vermeil. Only pure 100% recycled gold is used here. As Washington explained, gold is that amazing resource, which can be reused multiple times without any qualitative decay or environmental hazard. So, it’s not only papers and plastics, which needed to be taken into consideration while thinking about recycling. Gold can be a very good sustainable investment, leaving a little bad impact on the environment. The genderless jewelry collection is a tribute to all the leading figures, who are making a big difference toward sustainability.

This year, we’ve all had a bit more free time on our hands to pick up a hobby. Some people have learned how to cook — and then there are those who have not only learned how to sew, but also created beautiful outfits made from household materials.

This dress is not playing around! There are usually 52 cards within a deck, but we suspect it took a lot more than that to make this beautiful and unique gown fit for any masquerade ball.

Do you have a friend that is absolutely obsessed with chewing gum? Do you know someone that will always have a packet of gums or mints in their bag without fail? Then, this is the dress for them!

The designer of this dress created a body out of the cardboard from gum packets, and used the metallic wrappers for the bodice. The ‘gems’ also appear to be made out of red candies or mints, which is sure to add a sweet touch to this design.

One of the worst feelings in the world is sliding into your favorite pair of jeans, only to discover that a hole formed out of nowhere. Reddit user u/ironicphrases has creatively come up with a solution for this!

Taking two pairs of ripped and worn-out jeans, they were able to create this fashionable corset that anyone could wear! This just goes to show that you can make anything out of denim.

This beautiful gown was created by 17-year-old Christina out of duct tape. She created the dress for Duck Tape’s “Stuck at Prom” Scholarship Contest, where high school students create amazing dresses from duct tape.

Lilac isn’t usually the color we associate with duct tape, but the color paired with the gorgeous flowers just screams summer vibes. Christina had been designing clothes for three to four years before she created this beautiful piece. She’s sure to have stolen the show!

This gorgeous summer dress was created by Reddit user u/madison_babe using a bed sheet they found at a thrift store! This beautiful smock dress is perfect for the warm, summer months with its light and airy material.

Redditors commented on how some of them had owned the same bedsheets from when they were younger, and were going to attempt Madison’s design using them. It really shows how powerful the internet can be in bringing people together.

This user was able to create a beautiful summer dress and headband combination using her grandparent’s old kitchen wallpaper. Instead of throwing it away, this creative woman found a pattern online and decided to make the most of it.

It’s one thing to make your own dress, but to have enough material left over to make your own headband really is a special skill. The retro wallpaper really adds to the ’70s vibe this outfit is giving off.

We all have that drawer stuffed full of pantyhose that either don’t fit anymore or are totally unwearable because they are so ripped. If you’re tired of throwing them out, this creative lady has found a way of making them look brand new.

In a few simple steps, this woman has turned her old, ripped yellow pantyhose into a gorgeous, incredibly detailed hairband. Depending on the colors you have, you should be able to make a hairband to match every color in your wardrobe!

Are you a fan of Mountain Dew? We’re sure this lady has coveted the number one fan spot. Even though this dress was made for a contest rather than an actual event, this definitely must have taken a lot of time and effort.

The woman who made this unique gown said that the top is made from recycled wrappers and plastic, and the bottom is made from 300+ wrappers sewn over a petticoat. It certainly is very impressive.

This gorgeous gown looks like a rose come to life. The original designer of the dress, u/gesasage88, said that it was made up of 80% bed linens, with the rest of the fabrics taken from other projects previously designed.

The different colored petals are layered perfectly to look like an upside pink rose. Even though it might not be practical for an evening event, it is still a beautiful design. For the first attempt at a 3D flower, it looks great!

This incredible design was created with a lot of creativity, and a lot of papercuts. This dress is made out of a torn-up dictionary, and up close, you can still read the words in alphabetical order.

The bodice was folded to create a shell-type pattern on the bodice, with scale-like details flowing down into the skirt. We think this dress is perfect for someone who loves to read, and it looking for a bold new item to add to their wardrobe.

Ever wonder what do to with all of your leftover cardboard you can’t fit into your recycling? This crafty lady turned all of her ripped up cardboard into a pastel dress fit for any evening party.

This unique cocktail dress displays a layered skirt made from spray-painted pieces of cardboard. The bodice is made up of cardboard triangles and different shapes to create a one-of-a-kind outfit. Even the corsage on her left hand is made from cardboard!

There are a lot of bizarre competitions out there, but what about the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress competition? The competition held in 2019 celebrated its 15th anniversary and crowned South Carolinian Mimoza Haska as their winner.

Haska’s gown is a unique crocheted gown with flower appliques, and all of it is made entirely out of toilet paper! We’re just glad it didn’t rain that day otherwise this competition would have been a total washout.

Cardboard is often easy enough to work with, but it takes a real artist to create something beautiful with it. Reddit user, u/Bckrudwig, created this piece after being inspired by Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It includes multiple layers of intricate designs.

Using a laser cutter, a sewing machine, and a hot glue gun, u/Bckrudwig managed to create a piece that is almost as delicate as Shakespeare’s words themselves. This really belongs in the Met!

Originally posted to Reddit user, u/l_lumina, received a mountain of deserved praise for her ability to turn a used parachute into a mesmerizing gown sure to take the title of Best Dressed on any red carpet.

u/l_lumina initially started with a layer ballgown in her concept drawings, however, whenever she ended up finishing the dress, it was a lot more dramatic than what she anticipated. This might be an idea for anyone who wants to remember their time skydiving forever.

This creative Dungeons and Dragons fan was able to customize their very own denim jacket with pieces of scrap materials that were scattered throughout their home. They expertly cut pieces of scrap leather into the shape of an icosahedron, or a D20 in DnD terms.

The buttons were also added to create more depth to the design. Using scraps of materials can definitely be an easy way to customize any boring piece of clothing and truly make it your own.

The youth are starting to turn away from traditional prom dresses with big skirts and plunging necklines, and are starting to become creative with their designs. The designer of the infamous Doritos prom dress says that it took three years to finish!

The chip bags are expertly sewn together, and paired with unique straps that tie this outfit together. It’s so impressive that someone so young could make something often seen on shows like America’s Next Top Model. We hope she’s still creating amazing masterpieces!

There are lots of jean-based clothing out there. Jean shorts, or often called “jorts,” and now there’s the jean dress “jress.” This wonderful designer managed to take 12 pairs of torn jeans and one torn pair of overalls in order to create this jean ballgown, or “jallgown.”

The designer says that, yes, it is as heavy as it looks. No doubt on a cold and blustery day at the beach, it’ll manage to keep the wearer warm as well!

This might not be to everyone’s taste, and may even bring some of you back to unpleasant diaper changes in the middle of the night. One creative mother managed to take all the diapers her baby had grown out of and turned it into a floor-length dress.

The diapers have all been layered displaying the fun little cartoons and adding a bit of color to the dress. Whilst this would have taken a lot of time and effort, it also makes for a fashionable diaper holding as well — as long as there are no holes in important places!

One of the most useless items in the world has to be an air mattress. After one night, the entire bed has lost its air, and most times one night is all it takes to burst it. Reddit user, u/bbzarr, managed to take her air mattress and turn it into a work perfect for New York Fashion Week.

She says that the inspiration behind her self-patterned dress came from Icelandic singer-songwriter, Björk, which we can definitely see reflected in the dress. Not only is it totally original, but it also took less than 24 hours for u/bbzarr to debut her newest creation.

This is one for someone with an insanely sweet tooth. To celebrate her prom, a local high school student — Cristal — collaborated with the sweet shop Candyality to create a prom dress worth talking about. Candyality had previously created dresses out of candy wrappers for art festivals and other events.

Cristal’s custom dress was created using wrappers from empty bags of Skittles. The logo was used to create the bodice, and fuller bags used to create a voluminous skirt. The perfect gown for the ultimate Skittles fan.

Cosplay conventions happen all over the world annually — like Comiccon, Comiket, and Fan Expo. Cosplay usually involves people dressing up in costumes similar to their favorite TV show, movie, or book. Cosplayer Amy managed to make use of some beads to create her Wonder Woman costume.

She posted her designs to Imgur saying, “This is a Wonder Woman dress made from fuse beads. Now, I’m off to make the gauntlets, boots, a sword, and a shield. Hopefully, I won’t run out of beads.” It looks like it’s straight out of a video game!

Our attitudes towards our shower curtains come and go when the seasons change. When it’s warm, we want something light and airy. However, when it’s colder, we might want deep, warm colors to trick ourselves into thinking it’s warmer than what it actually is.

Reluctant to completely get rid of her old shower curtain, u/Iiwii said that despite being a complete amateur, she sewed together this dress. She even managed to add a few hook and eye details to the bodice of the dress to make it look even more professional.

People often say that they’re not interested in spending a lot of money on a wedding dress, as it will only be used for a few hours on the most special day. Brides have therefore been looking at alternative ways to get across their personality on their wedding day.

User u/matteFinnish posted her wedding dress that was made from trash bags, plastic table clothes, and butcher paper. Apparently, after a disastrous fitting, the bride was forced to think on her feet and spend the last six days before her wedding making this dress.

Etsy seller, shopMissMalaprop, used some recycled FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) issue blue tarp found on the streets of New Orleans to create this dress and choker masterpiece. It was designed for a charity fundraiser for the America’s Wetland organization.

Whilst this dress has unfortunately long been sold, it shows how any piece of material can be repurposed for a new piece of clothing. We hope that whoever bought this piece was generous in their donation!

This might be another one for the candy lovers. DIY-er, Emily, spent five years — four of which were spent gathering materials — making this beautiful off-the-shoulder dress out of Starburst wrappers. She claims that the majority of the materials came from her husband’s discarded trash.

Emily used 10,000 Starburst wrappers to create her design and organized them into different colors before ironing them and folding into links. If she needs help finding another 10,000 wrappers for a second dress, we’re more than happy to help out!

Water balloons can be fun to play with during the summer but come fall and winter, the pack will stay in a drawer until the next best day, which may be months away. This person managed to take all their leftover balloons and turn them into this colorful gown suitable for the Met Gala!

This dress features every color in the rainbow, making it completely stand out! This also would have required very little sewing work given that the balloons are masterfully tied together. Also, the tied ends of the balloons made for a beautifully detailed bodice.

Leading up to the holiday season, we always buy way too much wrapping paper that we leave it until next year. However, when the next year rolls around, it’s nowhere to be seen!

Made from “post-holiday paper, glue, and ribbon!” u/avantgeekart created a dress that Mrs. Claus would be jealous of. She even took the time to create a stunning gold ribbon head piece to compliment her glittery red dress. We hope finding glitter in your hair for the next few months was worth it!

We’ve never really given much thought to the tabs that open soda cans. Imgur user, @caribbeanamphibian, posted this photo of her prom dress — which is made up of thousands of soda can tabs. We do wonder how much soda she was drinking a year to get this many tabs.

The majority of the dress is made up of regular gray aluminum tabs, however, the neckline and straps of the dress are complemented by an assortment of colors. It was nice of her date to match his tux with her unique dress!

Another prom queen who has decided to make a statement. @Mollyballoons, appropriately named, decided that for homecoming, she would make her dress out of balloons. In the end, she created a cocktail dress out of cyan and pink balloons.

Molly’s unique concept and brilliant execution wowed everyone at homecoming, and ended up winning her the title of Homecoming Queen! It’s one thing to make balloon animals, but a completely different level of skill is needed to make a whole dress. Well done, Molly!

Brides these days are always looking to make their wedding as affordable as possible. One way this thrifty bride thought of saving some dollars was by making her bridesmaid dresses out of tablecloths.

This creative bride took antique lace tablecloths and dyed them various shades of gray to match her wedding colors and aesthetics. It also made for a gorgeous bohemian style look, which all the bridesmaids looked fabulous in! We hope that these types of creative saving methods become the norm for future weddings.

People often don’t realize there are hundreds of ways to customize and create different items of clothing using our t-shirts. We all have that pile of shirts we keep in the back of the closet that we want to repurpose but never get around to doing it.

In the blink of an eye, you can transform your old raggedy t-shirts into cool, stylish headbands. By cutting the hem of your t-shirt and looping it inside itself, you can easily hide your greasy hair with your favorite new accessory!

Overalls became all the rage a few years ago, but it’s unlikely to see anyone sporting them in this day and age. If you’re looking to revamp your vintage overalls into something a bit more practical, it can be easily done.

This woman transformed her old denim overalls into a fashionable apron. The sewing is so clever, we almost didn’t notice it was an apron! This could be a perfect gift idea for that special someone in your life reliving her teenage years.

A lot of modern fashion tries to incorporate nature into its designs, but what happens when nature becomes the dress? This dress is the brainchild of four different designers, who made this elegant gown out of 5,888 leaves — and it’s almost seven feet long!

Given that we all spend so much time raking leaves, or using a leaf blower to get rid of the leaves on our lawns, it’s so great to see that the beautiful fall leaves aren’t going to waste. There is also a gorgeous ombré effect on the bodice right down to the train of the dress, which goes from light to dark.

Bohemian weddings are very fashionable right now. Brides are wanting to incorporate lace into their ideal wedding dress, however, one bride managed to make her dress completely out of antique lace curtains and tablecloths.

This bride’s gorgeous vintage styled dress is made from antique ivory lace curtains and Venice lace appliques. It’s hard to believe that this dress is made from curtains at all. Using repurposed materials is so refreshing to see in people’s fashion choices, especially in their wedding dresses.

Accidentally ordered too many stockings and don’t have the time to return them? You can always make a dress just like this designer did to get you into the holiday mood. This dress looks like it could keep you cozy during the cold, winter nights.

The animals all over the dress have their bright red noses on. The big red bow at the center of the neckline also adds to the holiday vibes of the design.

One thing new mothers always complain about is the lack of clean bibs they have for their children while they eat. The consequences often involve bright food stains all around the collar of their shirts. However, it’s entirely possible to make some of your own for emergencies.

If you have some leftover denim from old jeans, shirts, or shorts, these can easily be repurposed into handy bibs for your baby. If you decide to wear some denim, you and your baby could match!

When it comes to dress-up parties, the pressure is on to wear the most creative outfit. Oftentimes, we end up purchasing an over-priced costume from the store only to wear it once. Well, this designer decided to take matters into her own hands and put her household scrap materials to good use.

She used an array of plastic cups which she stitched to her skirt and used a hula hoop to cinch in the waistline, while the mini hat is made of cardboard, cardstock, and left-over felt.

While Ikea is known to be the land of practical and inexpensive furniture, they may want to update their company ethos after seeing this. The designer behind these trendy pieces used her recycled Ikea Frakta bags as the main source of the material.

While hearing the idea about using shopping bags to create sneakers or bucket hands sounds like a recipe for disaster, the execution was actually perfect. Recycled fashion has never looked so cool and streetwear-ready.

Safety pins are known to have many uses, however being a stylish necklace probably isn’t one of them, until now. The creator behind this hip and edgy jewelry piece is nothing short of a style genius.

She took an old layered chain and leveled it up by adding on all the safety pins she had at her disposal. Now, not only does she have a ready-to-wear necklace but no one else will have anything like it.

This next creation deserves an award from the fashion police for its creative use of barricade tape. When we usually see caution tape in the streets, we assume that it’s due to an unfortunate or unprecedented accident. However, this dress design flips the script because caution tape has never looked so glamorous.

While this dress is not an everyday outfit, it’s guaranteed to turn heads when worn. Kudos to the design sheriff in charge of putting this one together!

Trash bags are great for storing our garbage or acting as a form of protection when we’re painting in the home. We thought that was it, until now. Usually, when people try to incorporate this material into fashion it ends up cheapening the outfit and looking trashy. Pun intended.

However, the creator of this avant-garde costume got it so right. Everything from the elaborate hat to the crinoline skirt looks totally sophisticated and fun. Don’t throw this one in the trash!

Wooden clothespins are very useful household essentials, commonly used to hang up our wet clothes – but little did we know, they had a greater purpose all along. While a full corset made of nothing but clothespins and wooden coat hangers sounds undoubtedly uncomfortable and difficult to move in, it would be worth it just to showcase this design.

We can’t stop staring at this DIY masterpiece that looks so professional it could be hanged in a museum. Drop the mic for that pun!

While masks have become a necessity for us to wear with every outfit, that doesn’t mean we have to look like everyone else. The designer of this beautiful and formal mask had that very idea in mind when she constructed the piece out of an old dress.

Also, the mask is still perfectly safe and cut to the correct proportions so you can look stylish while protecting yourself and others. Safe fashion never looked so good!

What do you do when you find a stack of old leather gloves in the back of your closet? Well, it’s simple really, just sew them all together into a corset worthy of being featured on TV. In fact, this corset looks so chic it deserves a debut on a Project Runway episode.

While we are unsure as to how pleasant it would feel to wear, one thing is certain, no one will be able to resist getting their hands on this piece. Get it?

While maps aren’t as commonly used as before due to our new technological era of smartphones and apps, that doesn’t mean to say that map books should become extinct. Because if that were the case then the creative designer who made this dress would have used a different material, and it just wouldn’t have had the same effect.

Not only is this piece an outright original, but it also has a dual purpose. When viewers see it, it will both entertain them and inform them on some geography simultaneously.

Most of us have old buttons lying around the house that have proven to be useless, but thanks to the inspiration behind this necklace, we’ve sourced your next DIY project. While the finished product here looks so chic and funky, it’s actually a really easy design.

All you need to do is attach your buttons to a grid mat and cut it into a crescent shape to fit around your neck. In the end, you’ll have a bib necklace design that’s worthy of showcasing to a formal.

IKEA can often host some beautiful designs, and some people have decided that rather than splashing these designs on cushions and curtains, they will use them to create outfits. At the beginning of 2020, this Reddit user decided to take curtain designs from IKEA and make them into a vintage dress.

The black-and-white design features a minimalistic tree and leaf pattern, and has been cut up and sewn back together again to make this gorgeous skater dress. We hope they start selling these designs soon!

Imgur user, @Totallytrashedfashion, posted her latest design of a model wearing a dress solely made out of fashion magazines. The cut-up pieces became the bodice, whilst pages were rolled to create a full, textured skirt.

Speaking about her design, @Totallytrashedfashion said that the dress was made entirely out of paper, and was so popular that ironically her design — which features an array of fashion magazines — made its way into those same magazines. We hope that whatever she’s doing or creating now, she has made a name for herself.

2020 hasn’t been easy. Some of us have barely gotten out of our leggings and sweatpants while we’re on multiple conference calls a day. Teenager Peyton wanted to create a dress out of duct tape and replicate the words of Leonardo da Vinci, however, the events of 2020 made her change her mind.

Using 41 rolls of duct tape, Peyton managed to create a dress that perfectly embodied 2020, from the masks to health workers on the frontline. She spent around 395 hours in total creating her masterpiece, but it was all worth it as her design managed to bag her a $10,000 win.

Much like pantyhose, we often have a drawer for our odd socks and our rejects. It’s nothing personal, but who wants to walk around in holey socks? This clever woman found a way of revamping our odd socks.

This design saw the designer take the best odd socks they had and turn them into amazing cushions! Even if this isn’t your style, this might be a perfect DIY gift for someone in your life who takes their sock brands very seriously.