Earth works

What to wear when you're rocking the universe?

More than 5,000 young designers, most of them still in their teens or 20s, came up with some bold suggestions in the 17th Jeanswest Casual Wear Design Contest, one of the most influential competitions for young designers in China.

Most of those who made it into the top 20 Fashion Show focused on the Earth's relationship with the rest of the solar system and were downright wild and whacky. They included ideas based on living creatures and cities from other planets, strange machine monsters and even bricks and stones. Some ended up looking like the heavy garb someone would wear if he were working in a steel factory. Many of the clothes were made from hi-tech "metallic" fabrics and were adorned with rope bracelets with nutshells and fish bones, plus obligatory long boots with sharp-pointed heels.