German designer Jule Waibel has created 25 of her folded paper dresses for fashion brand Bershka's shop windows around the world (+ movie).
Jule Waibel produces the dresses by hand-pleating large sheets of paper into forms that fit the body. Each takes over ten hours to complete.
She was contacted by Bershka with an offer to exhibit 25 dresses in as many of its flagship stores in cities including London, Paris, Milan, Istanbul, Osaka and Mexico City.
"I was excited and shocked at the same time," Waibel told Dezeen, "25 dresses for 25 shops?!"
Waibel scores the paper horizontally and vertically before folding along the seams, then repeats the process for the diagonal.
The two halves of the sheet are printed with a different pattern, one for the bodice and the other for the skirt.
Most of the dresses are printed with colour gradients, while a few are covered with detailed patterns.
Different colours and graphics were used for each of the cities, but Waibel was keen to move away from stereotypical shades and motifs such as the ones used in the countries' flags.
"I found it too obvious to use the typical colours and instead I wanted to try something different," she explained. "I figured that the people must be bored with seeing the same style all the time."
Her favourites are the black and white design in Paris, the dress patterned with tiny black and orange fish in Berlin and the installation on London's Oxford Street that appears to glow like lava.
Waibel and her team spent just over a week producing the garments and a set of accessories at a studio in Barcelona.
"Together with my supportive pleating assistants we managed to fold 25 dresses, two bags and two umbrellas within eight tough working days!" she said.
The origami dresses will be installed until 31 January.
Waibel first designed her concertinaed clothing while studying on Platform 18 of the Royal College of Art's Design Products course and exhibited her work at ShowRCA 2013.
