How Anastasia Elektra’s Zero‑Waste Menswear Transforms Paper into Wearable Art
Written by Rhiannon Frater
“How do you design a garment that gives a man permission to cry?” This simple yet profound question sparked the genesis of Anastasia Elektra, an avant-garde menswear brand that quite literally turns paper into luxury fashion. Founded by designer Shuoyi Chen (known professionally as Anastasia Elektra), the label is redefining what menswear can be. Instead of traditional textiles, Chen’s zero-waste creations are crafted from chemically treated, high-performance paper folded like origami into sculptural garments. The result is wearable architecture, pieces that appear fragile and formidable at once, embodying the brand’s core philosophy that true strength is found in vulnerability.
At the heart of Anastasia Elektra is a radical philosophy Chen calls the “Armor of Honesty.” The idea was born from observing how conventional suits can act as emotional armor, allowing men to project only stoic strength. Chen realized that menswear’s rigid definition of masculinity left little room for self-expression or emotional complexity. Her response was to invert the concept of armor itself: instead of wool or metal, she chose paper, a material perceived as delicate, and engineered it into a protective shell. By turning fragility into strength, the Armor of Honesty challenges wearers to find power in openness and self-awareness. In Chen’s words, “Traditional menswear demands conformity. My work offers men permission to inhabit form differently, to express complexity rather than suppress it,” she explains. In practice, this means garments that visibly embrace structural vulnerability as a new form of masculine strength, fundamentally questioning archaic norms of what men’s fashion can signify.
Anastasia Elektra’s innovative menswear is as much an engineering feat as it is a design statement. Trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chen approaches fashion with an interdisciplinary blend of material science and architecture. “I don’t sew structure into the cloth, I fold it out,” she says, describing her origami-inspired tailoring method. Each piece is constructed through geometric folding rather than traditional sewing, so that every seam is a precise crease echoing an architectural blueprint. This proprietary process results in garments that behave more like kinetic structures than fabric, blurring the line between fashion and engineering.
Behind the scenes, Chen’s studio looks as much like a lab as a design atelier, test tubes sit alongside sewing machines as she experiments with treatments to make paper resilient. Intensive R&D in partnership with SAIC material engineers led to a custom chemical polymer treatment that renders the high-performance paper water-resistant and flexible without losing its sculptural form. Strategically placed 3D-printed hinges and flexible wire at joint areas allow these rigid-looking garments to move naturally with the body. Not only is the result visually arresting, it is also sustainable by design: the precise origami pattern-cutting ensures a zero-waste construction process with no fabric scraps. By exclusively using a non-traditional medium and high-tech construction, Anastasia Elektra positions itself at the cutting edge of fashion technology, selling “material engineering, not just design,” as Chen puts it.
At Chicago Fashion Week 2025, Anastasia Elektra made a bold debut with the Chicago Architecture Collection, a lineup that stunned audiences by translating the city’s iconic skyline into wearable form. A model showcasing Anastasia Elektra’s signature origami-like paper construction on the runway, where fashion meets architecture. Each garment in the collection functions as a miniature architectural study drawn from Chicago’s most famed structures. Trousers echo the rhythmic concrete setbacks of Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City towers, coats mirror the Willis Tower’s soaring vertical lines, and jackets capture the Gothic elegance of the Tribune Tower’s facade. To achieve these feats, Chen used her chemically treated paper substrates and origami techniques to mimic architectural geometry in menswear.
The runway presentation blurred the boundary between building and clothing. Models moved like living sculptures, the folds and angles of their outfits revealing mathematical precision in every step. The spectacle wasn’t just aesthetic; it was a proof of concept. Critics and press praised how the collection “successfully translated Chicago’s structural blueprints into kinetic, wearable menswear”, validating Chen’s fusion of architecture and fashion. The buzz from Chicago Fashion Week quickly led to broader recognition, organizers from Miami and Los Angeles Fashion Weeks extended invitations, signaling that the industry took note of this fresh sustainable avant-garde vision.
Transforming paper into luxury menswear has not been without challenges. Anastasia Elektra’s journey involved surmounting technical, market, and production hurdles through creativity and determination:
● Technical Durability: The first challenge was ensuring garments made of paper could be worn like real clothes. Early prototypes were rigid and limited movement. Chen overcame this through rigorous R&D, developing proprietary coatings that fortified the paper while preserving its industrial-chic texture. Adding flexible wiring and 3D-printed joints at stress points finally allowed the origami structures to articulate with the human form, making the pieces wearable art rather than static sculptures.
● Market Perception: Convincing luxury buyers and editors to see value in a paper coat priced around $2,500 was another obstacle. Skeptics questioned longevity and worth. Chen’s solution was to shift the narrative: she wasn’t selling “paper clothing” but “wearable architecture” grounded in material science. By highlighting the intensive research and engineering behind each piece, and securing features in business and tech media (like Business Insider) to bolster credibility, the brand reframed the price as a reflection of innovation. This strategy attracted the “Conceptual Collector,” a niche clientele that values intellectual narrative and avant-garde process over conventional luxury labels.
● Production & Scalability: Traditional manufacturers balked at paper-based garments and the painstaking hand-folding required. Outsourcing risked compromising quality and concept. Instead, Anastasia Elektra adopted a controlled, artisanal production model. All R&D and master folding are done in-house in Chicago, and only specialized micro-studios handle small-batch production of finished pieces. By keeping volume low and quality high, the brand maintains its conceptual purity and limited-edition exclusivity, while still achieving viable margins. This hybrid approach ensures that scaling up doesn’t dilute the craftsmanship or experimental nature that define the label.
In a short time, Anastasia Elektra has amassed accolades that cement its credibility as a revolutionary menswear house. Academic validation came early when Shuoyi Chen earned admission to the prestigious Central Saint Martins (CSM) fashion program in London, one of the world’s most selective design schools. This honor, along with her unorthodox approach, garnered press coverage in respected industry outlets like L’Officiel, Business Insider, and New York Weekly, signaling that the fashion media and business press alike recognize the significance of her work. The brand’s interdisciplinary roots at SAIC, where fine art and material science intersect, further underpin its authority in merging creative design with technical innovation.
On the runway and in the market, Chen’s concepts have proven their mettle. The success of the Chicago Architecture Collection at CFW, hailed as an avant-garde triumph of architecture-meets-fashion, led to international invitations and positioned the brand among cutting-edge labels to watch. Beyond the catwalk, key Anastasia Elektra pieces have been acquired by private collectors who display them as kinetic art sculptures in their collections. Such collector interest validates the brand’s status at the intersection of fashion and fine art, treating garments as investment-grade art objects. At the same time, Chen has shown business savvy by introducing the Architectural T-Shirt Collection, an accessible line of artful, folded graphic tees that serve as entry-level pieces for fans and collectors. This tiered offering broadens her market without compromising the high-concept ethos, creating a revenue stream that supports the elaborate R&D behind the main structural collection. Each milestone, from academic honors to press features and collector acquisitions, reinforces Anastasia Elektra’s credibility as a pioneer fusing avant-garde fashion, sustainability, and technology.
With a strong foundation built in Chicago, Anastasia Elektra now sets its sights on the global stage. Over the next few years, Chen’s goal is to evolve from a conceptual niche label into a world-renowned architectural design house. Plans are underway to capitalize on the buzz: formal talks with major fashion weeks are intended to secure an official slot on the Paris or Milan Menswear calendar within three years. Standing alongside avant-garde peers in Paris/Milan would not only amplify the brand’s international profile but also firmly establish its high price points and architectural approach as part of the vanguard of luxury fashion. In tandem with runway expansion, Chen is eyeing strategic retail partnerships, envisioning her collections in cutting-edge concept stores from New York to Tokyo that cater to the brand’s cultivated Conceptual Collector demographic. Future seasonal collections will extend her architectural narrative globally: upcoming inspirations include the Brutalist geometry of Berlin and the sustainable modernism of Copenhagen, signaling that Anastasia Elektra’s design language knows no borders.
Innovation remains central to this vision. The brand plans to establish an in-house Material Innovation Lab, pushing the envelope of sustainable fashion technology even further. One key research focus is bio-fabrication, developing advanced cellulose-based materials so that tomorrow’s paper garments could be 100% biodegradable or sourced from organic waste. Another focus is expanding the use of 3D-printed components (from structural joints to avant-garde buckles) as signature elements that marry form and function. On the product side, Chen aims to grow the successful T-shirt line into a permanent range of engineered basics with subtle origami details, providing financial stability to fuel the main collection’s ambitious experiments.
Underlying all these plans is a larger cultural ambition. Chen aspires for the “Armor of Honesty” concept to become part of the menswear lexicon, a recognized stance that wearing Anastasia Elektra signals a choice to embrace vulnerability as strength. In the long run, she imagines her brand will be remembered as the one that permanently bridged fashion, architecture, and material science, proving that high-concept innovation is essential to the future of luxury. It’s a vision in which sustainability, avant-garde design, and deep philosophy coalesce to shape a new paradigm for menswear.
As Anastasia Elektra poises to enter this next chapter, from Paris runways to innovation labs, it stands at the vanguard of sustainable avant-garde fashion, turning paper dreams into tangible, wearable art. Discover more about Anastasia Elektra’s collections and follow its journey on the official website and Instagram (anastasiaelektra.com; IG: @anastasia_elektra_). Each meticulously folded garment tells a story of honesty and innovation, inviting the world to rethink not only what clothing is made of, but what modern masculinity is made of.
