10/24/18: Dance photographer Melkina Dez and paper artist Pauline Loctin were out drinking one night (not necessarily true, but that’s how I picture it) when they came up with a brilliant idea. Why not combine their two super powers into one kick-ass project?

They call it the PLI.Ē Project, and it’s every bit as spectacular as you’d hope. Loctin designed and made the wearable origami costumes, and Dez shot the glorious photos. Though they began the project shooting the costumes in a controlled studio environment, they eventually concluded that it would be more exciting to take the costumes out into the world.

“Paper can be a fragile material to work with and that is exactly why we decided to make the impossible, possible. No matter which element we would be confronted to, water (rain), wind, we wanted to show that we are limitless.”

I would love to see some of those costumes in motion. I imagine they’d move in unexpectedly wonderful ways. Maybe they should work with a choreographer and create an origami ballet. I’d buy tickets to see that!

The costumes range from traditional ballet silhouettes to intricately-folded avant garde shapes, and I think they’re all fantastic.

You can see all the photos on Loctin’s Instagram, and Dez on her website.

All photos by Melkina Dez.