Lexus has unveiled The Lexus Fashion Workshop in which four of fashion’s most inventive designers were tasked to rethink their notions of automotive design for an ad campaign to appear in Vogue. The project’s idea is to find a new way of recycling automobiles’ parts. Designers have used more than 2,000 individual parts of a completely dismantled Lexus CT hybrid, a vehicle that is 90 percent recyclable, to create fashionable works of art such as fashion jewelry, shoes, eyewear and organic clothes. The items designed include:
- ‘Environmental Crown of Virtue’, a piece designed by Moss Lipow using a transmission starter and exhaust manifold gasket;
- ‘The Valve Collection’, designed by jewelry creator Eddie Borgo using valve lifters, crank bearings and hose clamps;
- ‘Nomadic Sanctuary’, a sleek trench coat, shorts and clutch designed by John Patrick, featuring floor mats made from plant-based plastic, sustainable sound-dampening material, wire harness, leather seat covers and cargo covers;
- ‘The Luna Shoe’ by Alejandro Ingelmo who used armrest leather trim and clear plastic tubing to create it.
The four pieces will feature in a six-page advertisement in the January 2012 issue of Vogue and a series of exclusive interviews with the four designers will be posted throughout December.
The collection will be on display December 1—2, 2011, opening day of Art Basel Miami Beach, a prestigious art show. BMW is another automaker that will take part in the art show. Then the pieces will be sold at private auction during Art Basel Miami Beach, with proceeds benefiting the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund (CFDA), a not-for-profit trade association representing more than 400 of America’s foremost womenswear, menswear, jewelry, and accessory designers.
