Emma Guinness
It's no secret that the world of high fashion can be a weird, wonderful and often wacky place - as evidenced by these condom gloves.
Yes, you read that right, condom gloves are a thing and they're not designed for a person's genitalia but their hands.
Although in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, this could be something that might catch on, even if the look isn't exactly practical.
The condom gloves were debuted on Wednesday (28 September) at Paris Fashion Week, and they weren't just any old condoms stretched over the models' hands.
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Instead, the condoms were filled with water to create what can only be described as a hand turned fishbowl type look.
The condom gloves were created by designer Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh with one simple aim: to 'bring water to the runway'.
"Our thinking was, how can we collaborate with nature and not with another fashion brand? This is something that we've tried to research deeper and deeper every season," Botter said.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it wasn't the easiest task in the world to create the water-filled condom gloves and apparently there were 'a lot of trials' involved.
The gloves - in case it wasn't already clear - were designed to raise awareness of the world's oceans because they feature the models' hands submerged.
"It's almost bizarre, romantic, mermaid vibes," Botter said.
But it turns out that condoms aren't the only unusual material used by the designers and there was also a bag made entirely of ice in the collection.
As you can tell, it looked very cool, in every sense of the word, but it does come with a longevity problem.
While the condoms might be an unusual choice for clothing, the gloves were widely praised by fashion fans on social media.
"The palette, the silhouette… divine," praised one fan.
"The colour palette is perfect," added a second, while a third simply wrote: "Omg this is so cool."
However, one did question: "Are the condoms single use? If so it would kind of ruin the whole concept about paying a tribute to the ocean and combating climate change in your collections."
The designers ultimately said that the collection is all about showcasing the new 'technology' they are working with to create fashion that's more in tune with nature.
"This is something that we will start right now, researching new materials, finding new ways of collaborating with nature," Herrebrugh said of the collection that also included algae t-shirts.
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