This Christmas Tree-Turned-Ballgown Puts a Crazy New Spin on Holiday Glam

Exactly two weeks before Christmas Day, newly revamped retailer DressBarn shared this photo of a totally new kind of tree topper: Instead of the classic angel or star, why not use a mannequin torso and turn your X-mas tree into a ballgown?! According to DressBarn’s Facebook, the “dress” was inspired by “fashion icon Jennifer Lopez.” It’s no plunging Versace, but with a bit of tweaking (to make it wearable, that is), we can totally see if working for a televised holiday special.

Olivia Mears, known now, to many, as “Taco Belle,” chose to flaunt her love of a certain Mexican-inspired fast food chain by making a Disney-inspired costume covered in giant tacos and actual (unused!) wrappers. The tasty-looking gown went viral, and it’s not hard to see why. I anyone else suddenly craving a Cheesy Gordita Crunch?

Plenty of famous greens-loving women, including Tia Mowry and Cloris Leachman, have worn versions of PETA’s vegetarian dress, but obviously we’re most *excited* about Elizabeth Berkley’s turn. Let’s hope there weren’t any rabbits (or caffeine pills) on set that day.

Model Anna Ewers attended the 2015 CFDA Awards wearing a sexy, custom-made minidress by Alexander Wang, created from 500 American Express Gold Cards. The sheer getup was a tribute to the AmEx dress worn by costume designer Lizzy Gardiner at the Academy Awards 20 years earlier. Guess good credit never goes out of style!

Inspired by late designer Alexander McQueen, stylists Hissa Igarashi and Sayuri Marakumi created this stunning, rainbow-gradient gown using 50,000 gummy bears glued to a vinyl base in 2012. In all, it weighed 220 pounds. Must’ve been really tough not munching on some of the chewy embellishments, especially with all those red ones up top (since everyone knows red is the best flavor)!

You read that right: This dress is literally made of BEER. In spring 2015, visual artist Donna Franklin and Australian textile innovator Nanollose created a fluffy white mini dress out of a material derived from byproducts of the bacterial fermentation process used to make beer—which they say is similar to cotton. They’re actually hoping the fabric will one day be mass-produced. And for those of you who are wondering, no, it won’t make the wearer smell like a frat party!

Los Angeles teen Brie Fainblit couldn’t afford to purchase a prom dress, so she decided to do the next best thing: Make one… out of discarded soda can tabs! The dress, which she created by crocheting the metal tabs together with black string, took an entire school year (and several helping hands) to complete. Super punk rock, no?

Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini has created several garments entirely out of condoms as part of her AIDS awareness project, Condom Couture. She once made a wedding gown from 80,000 prophylactics—but we love this tangy sweet little yellow frock. Don’t the condoms almost look like little orange slices?

“Downton Abbey” costume designer Caroline McCall created this 1920s-esque dress in celebration of the UK’s annual Chocolate Week in October, 2014. Constructed entirely of Lindt chocolate, the playful frock took three months to construct and weighed in at 132 pounds. Good thing London’s weather generally stays on the cooler side!

In 2012, Parsons students Matthew Wallace, Elizabeth Bastian, and Deirdre Gaine created a dress made of discarded New York City MetroCards in order to make a statement about sustainability and recycling. Many of the cards used were found on the ground at the Union Square subway station.

Co-designed by UK TV personality Tess Daly, this cereal-inspired gown took over 200 hours to make, and includes 4,000 stalks of wheat, 500 whole almonds, 800 cut almonds, 50 vanilla pods, 50 vanilla flowers, 450 whole apples, and 100 curled apple peels, preserved peels, and apple slices—representing all the ingredients that go into Special K. As for how *wearable* the dress is? Well… that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Sick of making clothing embellished with beads, Central Saint Martins grad Anna Goswami—a self proclaimed fan of nail art—chose to design a collection of graphic dresses made from false plastic fingernails! Creepy? Totally. But also insanely creative. We’d say she nailed it. (HEHE.)

After winning a candy-as-clothing contest held by a Chicago candy store in May, high school student Cristal Garcia wore this dress made of Skittles bags to her prom. Love the fact that her date wore a matching bowtie and cummerbund. How… sweet! Why just taste the rainbow, when yuo can wear it, too?