Jumper Cable Suspenders

The idea for the jumper cable suspenders was inspired by the 1980s jumper cable belt, created by Issey Miyake. For each collection that I create I aim for at least one 'fun' piece. This isn't always the most functional article of clothing, but my goal with them is to have something that is a head turner, but all the while still drawing inspiration from something meaningful to me. For this season, it was the jumper cable suspenders. I had gone back and forth in how I could pay homage to my 2021 summer internship which is what inspired the entire collection to begin with. That summer I lived in Iowa, and my day-to-day consisted of walking to campus at the University of Iowa to conduct electrochemical reactions within a lab. The lab group I was placed in was focused on reducing carbon dioxide with tin nanoparticles. They did so by essentially using electrochemistry to attach tin nanoparticles onto a small piece of carbon. Then carbon dioxide was adsorbed to the surface of the nanoparticles and would desorb as different compositions: a process known as reduction. On a larger scale the hope would be to use this same technology to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide within the atmosphere. I really loved the work I did that summer and especially the premise behind it; I wanted to pay homage to it in some way. And once I came across the jumper cable belt, the idea immediately sparked to do the same, but in a suspender fashion. I made it out of 2 pieces of leather that I hand stitched together into tubes. I then bought some metal hardware that I spray painted into a copper color to resemble jumper cables.