Julia Fox wants to turn your trash into fashion.
In her new E! competition series “OMG FASHUN,” Fox challenges designers to make outfits out of recycled and repurposed materials.
But an unconventional fashion show requires unconventional host attire. Ahead of the TV show’s back-to-back premiere episodes, Fox reached out to NYC “trashion” designer Anna Molinari to commission a new dress — entirely made from trash.
“Julia Fox told me that she woke up craving an outfit made out of plastic, so I just decided to make it for her,” Molinari said in TikTok video posted May 12.
Molinari got to it, diving into dumpsters and taking down her own shower curtain lining, which she used as the base of the dress.
“I added metal boning to the top part of the outfit, so that it would give Julia her signature snatched look,” Molinari said, as she took viewers behind the scenes.
Molinari took Fox’s “plastic” request to heart, repurposing bubble wrap and dry cleaning bags into the dress, adorning high heels with plastic bottle caps, and melting plastic take-out forks into earrings.
“I also incorporated a bunch of plastic straws that I’ve collected, because Julia and I want to save the turtles,” Molinari explained.
The designer topped off the shower curtain corset with additional bottle caps and plastic lining.
“I wanted to keep the skirt clear, because Julia — as well as the rest of the world — loves her butt,” Molinari joked.
Once the outfit was pinned, glued, and sewed to Molinari’s liking, she handed it off to Fox, not knowing that she would wear the very same dress during her television appearance on May 6.
“She liked it so much she wore it on her new TV show,” Molinari said. “She ate the whole thing up and left no crumbs.”
In each episode of “OMG FASHUN,” three fashion designers — dubbed “disruptors” — are tasked with creating handcrafted outfits from upcycled materials. Every week, Fox, stylist Law Roach, and a rotating guest judge will crown a new winner, who earns a $10,000 cash prize.
Fox has been making headlines lately for her two-year celibacy pact to herself, but she wants to pull focus toward sustainable fashion. Decked out in babydoll heads and deconstructed sneakers, Fox has been on a press tour to promote her new show and talk about the dangers of fast fashion.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Fox described disruptive fashion as “anything that undermines the current norms.”
“[It means] not wearing mass-produced garbage, supporting local emerging designers in your own community, not falling for clever marketing ploys, [and] not wearing something just because everyone else is,” Fox explained.
In addition to challenging designers to think outside the box by creating original outfits out of stuffed animals, breast pumps, tampon applicators, and more, Fox wants the disruptors on her show to go above and beyond the weekly prompt.
“Tell a story through your work,” Fox said. “Don’t just make a pretty outfit. … Anyone can do that. But can you make me feel something? That’s harder to do.”
[Editor's note: As of June 3, all episodes of "OMG Fashun" are now available to stream on Peacock.]
Header image courtesy of Quantrell Colbert/E! Entertainment
