Second Skin is an interdisciplinary design challenge that invites built environment students to step beyond traditional boundaries by transforming unconventional building materials into wearable fashion. This annual brief champions sustainability, creativity, and design thinking by giving materials a second life, from bricks to garments.
The purpose of Second Skin is to cultivate interdisciplinary research, empowering students to merge insights from architecture, interior design, and fashion. By reimagining how materials are used, students explore new perspectives, challenge design silos, and gain the confidence to work across disciplines. Ultimately, Second Skin is not just about what students create; it’s about how they think, adapt, and innovate.
What is Second Skin?
Second Skin is no ordinary fashion show. It is a celebration of interdisciplinary innovation, a place where design, sustainability, and bold imagination converge. Built environment students step out of their traditional roles and into the world of fashion, crafting avant-garde garments using repurposed building materials.
This year’s theme, Afrika Burn, challenges students to interpret the spirit of radical self-expression, resilience, and creativity through material and form, giving new life to old matter, one garment at a time.