project. extraordinary Rewrites the Rules of The Material World

In the world of fashion, fine fabrics and their associated craftsmanship are often prized according to their rarity, provenance, and texture, lest they be deemed too ordinary: mulberry silk, vicuña wool, and baby cashmere sit near the top, beloved for their softness and scarcity. Velvet, lace, and leather follow with their own rich histories and cultural associations. But what happens when the material doesn't come with that mythology built in? project. extraordinary, the new multidisciplinary photography project curated by New York-based art director Shibo Chen, is interested in finding out.

“I believe we can find beauty in everything,” says Chen. “project. extraordinary centers on transformation, on the act of re-seeing.” For its first chapter, Chen brought together 13 creative teams from around the world, each with their own visual language, and gave them a deliberately open brief: take an conventional object and transform it into something unexpectedly new and expressive. From there, the everyday takes on new life: a collection of discarded MetroCards becomes a two-piece set (plus matching clutch and earrings), candles are molded into a crown, bra, and skirt, and paper is dramatically wrapped as a floor-length frock. Including renowned photographers, stylists, and image-makers like Richie Talboy, Nico Daniels, Ryan Wohlgemut, Javier Castán, and more, the collective of burgeoning industry tastemakers turns the often unnoticed into something worth a second look.

For lensman, Nico Daniels, mannequins felt, well, like a familiar model. Having become accustomed to working with human figures in his work, building a fashion story around their more literal, uncanny counterparts was a natural next step. Coupled with a long-held fascination by their dual role in fashion — part display tool, part surrealist figure — Daniels plays with shadows and lighting that make you question who's human and who's not. “Looking in the reflection of the mirror and seeing the mannequins and models interacting with each other in silhouette was the point in which they started to come alive for me,” he says.

For stylist Ryan Wohlgemut and photographer Lulu Mcardle, the object became something more personal. Candles, lights, and metallic ribbon were selected to explore the idea of illumination, but for Wohlgemut, the project entailed confronting a childhood fear. “When I was 11, there was a fire in my childhood home, an experience that left me with a lasting fear of flames,” Wohlgemut says. “Working directly with fire to mold and shape the crown, bra, and skirt pushed me far beyond my comfort zone.” In more ways than one. In the process, fire, like the act of creating, took on new meaning.

And in a nod to project. extraordinary’s New York roots, photographer Claudio Robles found perhaps no better symbol of the city than the canary-yellow MetroCard, with the New Yorker stick-to-itiveness of making something out of nothing — “nothing” being 500 discarded subway passes. “The whole thing felt like the ultimate New York story: snatching something the city was literally about to throw away forever and turning it into something beautiful you can actually wear,” Robles says. Created in September 2025, just weeks before the subway entrance ticket was officially retired, Robles and stylist Ricardo Arenas searched station discard slots with little luck before eventually finding hundreds piled behind one of the last vending machines still in use at 34th Street, some dating back to 2003. They collected them, washed them in Claudio's kitchen sink, and transformed the discarded cards into a dress in just two days.

The project’s premise feels increasingly relevant to fashion at large. As the industry increasingly un-synonymizes “new” with “better,” designers are exploring deadstock, discarded materials, and upcycling objects that already exist. The future of fashion is less interested in what something is worth than in what it could become, while keeping artistry firmly at the center. Chen, for one, is only getting started: project. extraterrestrial, a series inspired by a leaked classified document about alien research, and project. yellow, a body of work by Asian creatives from around the world, are already underway alongside Chen's proof of concept platform for fresh voices and visual storytelling.

“I constantly ask myself, ‘Who is going to be the next person to shape the industry?’” Chen says. “Every legend had a starting point.”