South African artist Ricollin Moodley, best known for his lipstick portraits, is flexing a new kind of creativity by turning unassuming shopping bags into fashion pieces!
South Africa (12 May 2025) — South African artist Ricollin Moodley has made a name for himself by using unconventional materials to create gorgeous artworks. Think lipstick portraits of our Springboks’ stars and Tyla like you’ve never seen her before. His innovative process has seen his works go viral, garner heaps of attention and make us all look at our beauty products a little differently. However, recently, Ricollin took to a different form of art that caught our attention, turning shopping bags into fire fashion pieces that fit for a trip to the gallery.
Because Ricollin is in no shortage of creativity, he not only upcycled the shopping bags into a T-shirt and pants combo but also added his artist’s mark to the former bags with a vibrant design.
For those who aren’t sure, upcycling is the process of transforming an item or product into another to extend or enhance its lifestyle and function!
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From Waste to the Wardrobe
Fashion continues to pop up from unassuming materials across South Africa in response to the pressing global waste woes. As circularity movements rise up in a bid to keep materials in the loop instead of the landfill, so do creative ways to change the function of recyclables.
Reusable fabric shopping bags were a big and important step introduced by grocery stores in response to the plastic problem and lowering their contribution to it. However, as anyone who has a drawer or cupboard full of them will know, the well-meaning bags also require discipline to be effective, lest you should get fed up and throw them all away in one shot.
Ricollin’s pieces follow in the footsteps of other creatives, including designer Ndiwavho Delroy Jim, as a way to make the absolute most of the materials, all whilst contributing to the sustainable fashion movement that’s helping so many of us reimagine our wardrobes for the betterment of the planet.
In the world of transforming plastic bags into accessories, social enterprise Re.Bag.Re.Use is doing the most and has recently added more recognition to its tally. Read more here.
Sources: Ricollin Moodley; GTG
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