A US-based designer chose an interesting bit of material to make a ‘Met Gala-worthy gown’ to raise awareness about AIDS prevention and sexual health. To celebrate World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year, designer Gunnar Deatherage collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and crafted a dress using expired condoms. These condoms were collected all over from LA County. In a YouTube video Deatherage documents how he used condoms in the floor-length dress. He first turns hundreds of condoms into flower-like shapes and then spray-paints them gold before sewing them into the dress.
This YouTube video has gathered over 79 lakh views. Commenting on it, a YouTube user wrote, “I work in the condom business and seeing you making this amazing dress out of the condoms we have to trash is absolutely amazing, I love it! Use a condom, cause syphilis and co. are becoming medication resistant and you don’t wanna die."
Another mentioned, “What a beautiful and creative reuse of expired condoms. Your creations truly are a work of art. Making them into golden almost fabric-like buttons was so smart! I love that you didn’t try to hide them or make them subtle, you made them the stand out piece of the garment."
Someone recalled, “This is absolutely beautiful!! This reminds me of my classmate who for her final school art project made a dress decorated with pads (they made up the ball gown-length skirt), with a bodice decorated with red gemstones. Both dresses are gorgeous."
A person appreciated Deatherage for using condoms in an impactful and yet subtle way and wrote, “When you started, I really thought this was gonna be cheesy, but it ended up being very very beautiful. I am always so impressed by your designs."
This is not the first time that an artist has used condoms to make dresses. In 2006, Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini created a collection of 14 dresses made out of condoms that failed industry quality tests. With these dresses, she aimed to raise awareness about AIDS prevention. Her collection, titled “Dress Up Against AIDS: Condom Couture" was exhibited at UCLA’s Fowler Museum in Los Angeles from December 1, 2006 – March 11, 2007.
Bertini made the dresses alongside her HIV-positive apprentices. Proceeds from the sale of the dresses were donated to organizations that worked in the field of AIDS prevention and helping people who have AIDS.
While speaking to UN AIDS about her work, Bertini said, “The focus is not on wearing my gowns, but on introducing condoms into everybody’s lives, breaking taboos, and giving the public a chance to ponder. There are a lot of parents who want to thank me because it was through my art that they’ve reached out to their children to talk about sexuality."