Bottletop designs costumes for Olympics opening ceremony

Sustainable accessories label Bottletop, which is known for its upcycled metal tabs, designed costumes seen during the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony.

The London-based label designed a series of skintight jumpsuits using the brand’s signature metal tabs, which had been collected from across the state of Bahia in the North-East of Brazil, alongside thousands of up-cycled Swarovski crystals from Europe, reflecting the label’s commitment to sustainability and craftsmanship.

Each costume was hand-crafted over a six-month period by local artisans between London, Salvador, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro using individually metal tabs.

Bottletop dressed Brazilian singer Ludmilla, who was featured in one of the most explosive moments of the Opening Ceremony, in a white, couture body-con catsuit and a troop of 30 ‘Firesword' dancers wearing full body metal Bottletop designs inspired by vintage motor-cross protective armour.

In celebration of the collaboration, the pieces will be on display alongside the label’s autumn/winter collection at a private event in Rio, to be held August 16, which will highlight the brand’s cross-cultural ethos by featuring music by Brazilian and European artists.

Bottletop was launched in 2020 through a design collaboration with British luxury fashion house Mulberry. At the heart of the collaboration was a handbag made from up-cycled bottle tops in Africa that was lined with Mulberry leather off cuts in Europe.

The brand has since gone on to design in collaboration with Narciso Rodriguez and DKNY, and in 2015 it was awarded the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC) brandmark by Livia Firth. This year also saw the opening of its pop-up store on London’s Regent Street in May.

Image: courtesy of Bottletop