Since 2010, designers Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci of creative sustainable fashion brand From Somewhere have collaborated with Speedo to make a line of dresses out of their swimsuit fabrics. The ‘Unity’ one-off couture ball gown is a continuation of that project and it uses surplus fabric from Speedo’s Fastskin3 Super Elite Swimsuit. It uses off-cuts from the special edition Olympic game suits gathered from the Speedo-sponsored teams of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Spain, Japan, Canada, Netherlands and Israel. It is “influenced by sunsets, sea and waves for a look that reflects the oceans which connect the competing nations at this summer’s global event.” Here’s a video where Orsola de Castro describes the project.

image via From Somewhere

images via Ecosalon

via Karen Solomon, Grist and EcoSalon