Updated
Storm Delaney's magnum opus sounds like beads in a rainmaker when it moves.
The 16-year-old designer's outfit, made almost entirely from recycled materials, would not be out of place on an avant-garde runway.
"The vest and sleeves are joined together, all made out of the tops of cans," she said of the bolero she designed from scratch.
About to start Year 11 in Darwin, Storm has been meshing her left-field, experimental designs with social commentary on the environment; her 2016 entry to the NTeen Fashion Festival competition represented deforestation.
Last year's entry, which placed second, looks like a shimmering silver and black leather outfit from afar.
Thousands of ring pulls, flattened cans in experimental work
A born-and-bred nature lover who can often be found picking up other people's litter, Storm has found in fashion a vessel for her environmental leanings.
Most of the materials for her latest outfit may have otherwise ended up in landfill.
"My uncle in Queensland, he collects all the cans he drinks and he's done it for years. He builds stuff out of the cans himself," Storm told ABC Radio Darwin's Liz Trevaskis.
His latest invention was a coop for his chickens.
"He went through and took all of the ring pulls off, every single one, out of the house he built for the chickens, and put them in a big bag and sent them to me," she said.
One thousand ring pulls went into the bolero, and a further 20 into a choker necklace that accompanies the grunge outfit.
The teenager said she spent months pulling it together between other commitments.
Fence links hold the bolero together, and bring the total cost of materials for the outfit to just a few dollars.
"A lot of people say it's unique and they haven't seen it before," she said.
Her dad's empty cans were given new life as a crop top and skirt.
"I cut off the top of the can and the bottom of the can to make a cylinder, and I cut it straight down the middle and I flattened it out with a spoon and spray-painted it."
Hopes to change fashion industry for better
Storm said the experimental designs were something that came naturally to her during long periods of drawing and thinking.
She hoped to continue making clothes to protest the low-quality, easily produced garments of fast fashion — a trend that offers cheap clothes but costly consequences for the environment.
Another message the teenager wanted to incorporate into this particular piece was about safety on the roads.
"There are a lot of deaths on the roads because of drink-driving, and I was looking into the theme about problems with, like, people and alcoholics and especially people that drink when they're under age," she said.
"With this outfit, I was just trying to say it's not good.
"I was also looking at how we can recycle, and everything we've used we can make something beautiful out of it. It doesn't have to be thrown away."
The outfit is hanging in a cupboard until Storm finds a reason to put it to use.
"Dad says when I'm 18 I can wear it to that beer can boat regatta."
Topics: fashion, sustainable-living, environmental-management, human-interest, darwin-0800
First posted