One-of-One Upcycled Designer Mini Dress / Oversized Top | Womens UK 4–12
A one-of-one circular fashion creation by designer Claire Cruz, created for ReMade: A Circular Design Challenge. 23 is the third and final look from Claire's Courtside Couture collection — a statement reinterpretation of the traditional basketball jersey combining oversized sportswear proportions with lace, bold colour and high-impact black sequins.
The wider collection channels 2000s sports chic, inspired by the way style icons including Rihanna and Aaliyah took jerseys beyond sportswear and made them fashion-forward. Throughout Courtside Couture, Claire uses pattern mixing, embellishment and adjustable construction to combine glamour with the functionality required for festival dressing.
23 is Claire's take on an oversized basketball jersey — transformed into a highly adaptable piece that can move between mini dress, oversized top and adjustable bubble silhouette.
The design combines vivid royal blue fabric with sheer black floral lace and black sequins. Dominating the front is an oversized “23” appliqué, rendered in black sequins and outlined in contrasting white to create the graphic impact traditionally associated with a sports jersey number.
Rather than reproducing a jersey literally, Claire has taken its recognisable proportions and graphic language and reconstructed them through a fashion and festival lens.
Designed with versatility at its core, 23 can be worn either forwards or backwards.
One side presents the statement “23” against sheer floral lace and royal blue panelling, while the reverse features an expanse of black sequins with a dramatic plunging V-neck.
Turning the garment around allows the wearer to choose whether the plunge is worn at the front or back, substantially changing the look and styling of the piece.
The oversized cut allows 23 to be worn as either a mini dress or loose oversized top, while the long ties positioned at the lower sides provide another level of transformation.
The ties can be used to gather and manipulate the hem, creating a rounded bubble-dress effect and altering the length and volume of the silhouette. Alternatively, they can be removed or left unused for a more traditional oversized jersey shape.
Measurements:
The defining feature is the enormous 23 across the garment.
Constructed in black sequins and edged with contrasting white, the number deliberately references the scale and placement of numbering found on basketball jerseys while pushing it into statement fashion territory.
The graphic continues one of the central visual motifs running through Courtside Couture. Claire uses sporting numbers and jersey references as raw design language, repositioning them through appliqué, reconstruction and embellishment.
Appliqué is one of the principal techniques used throughout the collection, alongside deconstruction, panel-piecing and pattern cutting.
The garment combines dramatically different surfaces and fabric weights: transparent floral lace, densely embellished black sequins and solid royal blue fabric.
The contrast is intentional. Where a conventional sports jersey prioritises uniformity and performance fabric, 23 disrupts that familiar construction through transparency, embellishment and exaggerated proportion.
Across Courtside Couture, Claire worked from existing garments rather than conventional new fabric yardage. The original material palette included denim jeans, football jerseys, plaid and pinstripe shirts, ties and a zebra-print sequin top.
Techniques used across the collection include:
These techniques were used not only for visual impact but to create durable, professionally finished garments from materials that had already lived a previous life.
Adaptability is fundamental to both 23 and the wider Courtside Couture collection.
Wear it as a mini dress.
Style the oversized silhouette as a complete statement piece.
Wear it as an oversized top.
Layer it over shorts, trousers, leggings or another garment for a more traditional sportswear proportion.
Reverse it.
The garment can be turned around, allowing the deep V-neck to be positioned at either the front or back.
Create a bubble silhouette.
Use the long lower ties to gather the garment and manipulate its shape into a more sculptural bubble-style mini dress.
Wear it loose.
Leave the hem unrestricted for the relaxed shape and volume of an oversized jersey.
This multi-wear approach directly reflects Claire's circular design philosophy. Across the collection, she considered how adjustable garments could accommodate different bodies, be shared between wearers and work separately in different styling combinations rather than being restricted to one fixed outfit.
For Claire, working with existing clothing required designing around what was already available rather than beginning with unrestricted new materials.
She describes this process as learning to work with a garment's original history rather than erasing it. Existing details, fastenings and leftover sections become potential features rather than waste, while mixing different donor garments requires greater consideration of pattern, fabric weight and construction.
23 brings that thinking together in the collection's final statement piece: recognisable sportswear codes are dismantled and rebuilt into something deliberately glamorous, adaptable and individual.
This is a unique, handmade circular design piece created from preloved donor garments. Characteristics inherited from the original materials and evidence of reconstruction form part of the garment's history and Claire's intentional upcycled design aesthetic.
Sizing is approximate due to the oversized and adjustable construction. Please use the measurements provided as the primary guide to fit.
You are bidding on Claire Cruz Courtside Couture — Look 3: 23, a unique one-of-one ReMade design as described above. This look/collection is non-returnable.
As the final look in Courtside Couture, 23 captures the collection's central idea: taking the familiar visual language of sportswear and rebuilding it through a circular fashion lens — more expressive, more adaptable and designed for another life.
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