Cruise ship employee quarantined alone in hotel makes elaborate outfits out of paper bags

When quarantined cruise ship employee Ashleigh Perrie returned to Australia after 60 days at sea, she was required to self-isolate in a hotel room for two weeks.

Without any interaction with the outside world, Perrie had to get creative. Each day, the hotel staff would leave Perrie’s three meals in paper bags outside of her room. Perrie decided to turn those bags into elaborate costumes.

“Obviously we have a lot to do with costuming and design within the theater industry and within the dance scene — so I do love making bits and pieces,” Perrie told CNN. “But I think just the paper bags that kept coming and coming were really the inspiration.”

Among the five looks is a piece called “Origami Diva.” It has a massive skirt, corset, earrings, purse and a large headpiece all made of paper bags and napkins.

Perrie named a tennis-inspired look “the Maria Paper-pova,” after Maria Sharapova. Here she managed to create a pleated skirt, sports bra, head visor, armband and racket with the paper materials.

Another look, “the Paper Warrior,” puts a sustainable twist on Wonder Woman. The outfit is complete with an armor-esque dress with a sweetheart neckline, the iconic Wonder Woman cuffs and headband and even the classic shield.

“Coming back and having to face another two-week quarantine and not being able to, you know, finally hug your family and friends at the airport when you arrived was tough mentally,” Perrie told CNN.

But crafting the dresses created a necessary distraction and made the time fly by.

“It was time to wind down,” she said. “It was time just for me to chill out and look after myself after everything I’d been through.”

If you liked this story, check out In The Know’s article on this fashion student who sewed a custom outfit for his girlfriend.

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