If you've ever wondered what an 8-foot dress made out of pine cones would look like, you're in luck: Artist Robin Barcus Slonina is creating dresses made from the most unusual materials she can find.
Slonina, who runs a body painting and event company in Las Vegas, uses materials like bin bags, poker chips, and pine cones to create sculpture dresses for a number of dress series.
Some of those dress series include a U.S. state inspired project "State of Dress," and "99¢ Only Store," a series of dresses made of items purchased at dollar stores.
Slonina told BuzzFeed that the most labor-intensive design was the 8 foot tall pine cone dress.
"It took six weeks to gather and clean the sap off the cones, then meticulously attach them to a wire form I constructed in the shape of a dress."
She added that the reason this dress took the longest as she did it entirely on her own without the help from volunteers, until they helped her climb into the dress once it was complete.
"I have always simply liked the shape of the dress as an abstract form, and I think it is interesting that it has come to represent the female in our culture."
Slonina says that the most special dress was the corn dress in Minnesota because the farmer who donated the land and corn to the project died not long after it was completed.
She has kept in touch with the farmer Ray Sonnenberg's family, adding: "My memories of him were so sweet and funny, and they even put a big framed collage of the Corn Dress out at his memorial service."
Red dress
Garbage bag dress
Although the response to her project has been incredibly positive, she received criticism for her "Garbage Dress" in New York City.
The first time she ever visited New York as a young artist was during a massive garbage strike. "It left a lasting impression on me to see mountains of garbage piled so high on busy city sidewalks."
However, she did not intend to create something 'ugly' for the metropolis of art, beauty and fashion: "I strived to create a 'couture' jet-black, fashionable New York dress, that just happened to be made from garbage bags. To me, this piece represents all the dramatic contrasts inherent to New York: wealth and poverty, art and homelessness – beauty and trash."
Slonina says that dress projects are usually community affairs with a group of interested locals helping her create the large-scale dresses.
