Roxy Saint — self-described “musician-performance artist-guerilla filmmaker” — has a new “line” of dresses fashioned from trash bags. The emaciated anti-fashionista is calling the limited line “TRASH COUTURE” – the first dresses are now available for view and order here, all priced at $55.00: rather pricey for a trash bag, a steal for a designer dress.
The Los Angeles-based Saint, who shops at thrift stores and makes or customizes most of her own clothes, came up with the idea when her wardrobe was stolen while she was on tour in the U.K. Frankly broke, she got creative and improvised, buying a box of plastic trash bags at a London market, cutting out holes for her head and arms, and using acrylics to paint a face on the front of the bag.
“I really liked the idea of wearing trash bags,” said Roxy, “because they are totally anti-fashion, and I don’t want to be identified by what I wear, but by my music.”
Yes, nothing screams musical integrity like a hand-painted trash bag dress.
Her first trash bag dress was a big hit on stage, such a hit that the dresses became an essential, conveniently economical part of her wardrobe. That led to friends and fans asking where they could get her “rubbish wear.”
Each Trash Couture dress has an original face painted on it, is individually named (“Chaos,” “Aquarius,” “Glitch”), numbered, and available in various sizes. Dresses made from large trash bags will come with the bag’s original plastic tie to be used as a belt. The designer has also used the plastic ties to create a handful of halter-top dresses.
Roxy Saint, who one journalist described as “PJ Harvey crossed with Sophia Coppola,” has created a formidable buzz in the UK and played the Leeds and Reading festivals this past summer. Chiefly inspired by Andy Warhol, she is a DVD-only artist, and her debut release, The Underground Personality Tapes, hit the stores November 16. Five of the videos from Roxy’s DVD have been in the Top 30 of iFilm’s Top Rock/Pop Videos of All Time, having logged nearly a half-million “on demand” streams.
Our Berkeley Joe reviews Saint’s DVD here – she plans to tour in ’05 and expand her designer work to “bubble wrap, aluminum foil, and colored Saran Wrap.”