According to a report by Quartz, in a strange but interesting experiment, a London-based fashion design student, Tina Gorjanc, is using late designer Alexander McQueen’s DNA to grow human skin in a lab. She plans to use this to create jackets and bags. This skin will be tanned, and will even bear tattoos based on the exact “locations, size, and design,” of McQueen’s, according to the designer.
She got access to his DNA by procuring McQueen’s hair, which the designer had once used in one of his collections. This collection is now owned by an institute, from whom Gorjanc managed to get hold of the hair, but she did not disclose the name of the institute.
The premise behind this marriage of biotechnology and fashion, according to Gorjanc, is to show “how corporations might one day exploit genetic information for luxury goods, and to showcase how little protection exists for a person’s DNA.” She has filed an application to patent “bioengineered genetic material that is grown in the lab using tissue-engineering technology and the process of de-extinction.” If she is granted a patent for the process of de-extinction, it would allow her to extract DNA information even from the deceased.
The collection is named under the title ‘Pure Human’ made from pig flesh and recently displayed at an exhibition. These products are not for commercial purpose but rather restricted to museum displays.
