Models In Recycled Underwear
by Conor Bezane
Chicagoan Richard Dayhoff makes underwear, but not just the kind you lounge around in. He’s designing for dudes who work out and want their briefs to be functional and still sexy. Call it hot couture.
Models In Recycled Underwear Hit the Runway At Chicago’s Vert Couture Fashion Show
Chicagoan Richard Dayhoff makes underwear, but not just the kind you lounge around in. He’s designing for dudes who work out and want their briefs to be functional and still sexy. Call it hot couture.
“A lot of people who run or work out, they need fabrics to do something—so that when you sweat the perspiration’s lifted up. Or the [fabric] keeps its shape or it lasts longer because of the dye in it,” The 20-year fashion-industry veteran told GayCities. “My fabric is a unique because our chemist studied the way water moves through the stalk of a plant. A drop of persperation moves through the fabric so it’s quick-dry.”
Dayhoffs runway show, “Sexy and Sustainable,” is part of Vert Couture, a showcase of 12 eco-friendly designers at Fashion Focus Chicago in Millennium Park on Thursday, October 20.
Vert Couture highlights garments that are locally produced using fair-trade fabrics, organic cotton, cruelty-free textiles and other “green” materials. Dayhoff is the only menswear designer in the show and he has his own environmental approach, with fabric choices that might surprise you. For example, some of his briefs—which come in black, gray or blue—are made from recycled plastic water bottles. “It’s using stuff that is already polluting our world and then breaking it down and using it for something else,” he said. ”I’ve never really participated in a show in Chicago,” Dayhoff adds. “[But Vert Couture] felt perfect for me because I’m a vegan and very into meditation.”
Dayhoff’s underwear is definitely for those with deep pockets: Pieces start at $80 and go up from there. It’s unclear where the underwear will be sold in stores, but for now you can order them online.
Vert Couture started at 7:30pm on tuesday. Tickets are $35-$95
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