The Last Biobloom, is a conceptual collection by a new generation designer who trained at Nottingham Trent University. Ritul Rai doesn’t just flirt with sustainability with her bio-based concept, she embodies it in the most literal sense.
Made from agar-based bioplastics and dyed with natural pigments, the garments are not only wearable art, they are experiments in impermanence. They are designed to biodegrade as nature intended.
In 2025, the environmental toll the fashion industry is responsible for is concerning. Issues such as water consumption, toxic chemical runoff, and landfill overflows should be front and centre. It begs the question on so many different levels: What if fashion could decompose?
Inspired by the lifecycle of plants, The Last Biobloom draws poetic symbolism from roses, hydrangeas, and lilies. The inspiration isn’t only based on the beauty of the blooms, instead Rai looks at the ephemeral nature associated with the subject matter. The decaying blooms become both concept and form, a quiet challenge to the fast-fashion machine that worships newness and disposability, while ignoring the deeper implications of what it leaves behind.
This is more than an aesthetic experiment. It is a material exploration. Using ingredients like carrageenan, glycerin, and gelatin, the designer formulates bioplastic in her studio, Rai relies on patience, trial, and a willingness to fail. Her garments are not just biodegradable, they are mutable: responding to light, air, and time, like living things. The glow-in-the-dark surface embellishments, adding a touch of mystery and innovation to the garments.
And yet, the project remains conceptual. These garments aren’t in stores. They can’t survive the wear-and-tear of everyday use. At least not yet. But that’s part of the point. The fashion system isn’t yet built for circularity at this level. Fashion production is still clinging to plastics and permanence, regardless of the new initiatives found across the EU and the British Fashion Council’s work with promoting Made in Britain. Work such as Rai’s highlights how emerging bio-designers can integrate alternate bio-based materials to encourage a more regenerative future within the fashion industry
In learning CLO 3D software to digitally prototype her designs, Rai takes sustainability one step further. Why waste material when you can simulate structure and flow in a digital environment? This combination of craft and code—of biology and technology—represents a new and exciting development for fashion, one that’s physical, environmentally conscious, and filled with intention.
There is no saviour garment. No singular innovation that will reverse the environmental cost of fashion. But The Last Biobloom doesn’t promise salvation. It offers something more intimate and perhaps more powerful: a conversation. One about beauty, responsibility, and our relationship with time. One where elegance is found in bio-based garments, and the beauty that can be found in decomposition.
Ritul Rai Process Image 3 - Charging Bioplastic garment for glow in the dark effect.
Image Courtesy of Ritul Rai
Ritul Rai Process Image 4 - Making of Bioplastic.
Image Courtesy of Ritul Rai
Ritul Rai Process 5 - Trying crystallisation on Bioplastic.
Image Courtesy of Ritul Rai
Ritul Rai Process image 6 - Toile.
Image Courtesy of Ritul Rai
Ritul Rai is a fashion designer with a multidisciplinary background spanning design, garment technology, and sustainable product development. With a strong foundation in trend research, CAD, and technical detailing, she brings a commercially aware yet conceptually rich perspective to her work. A recent graduate of the Fashioning Emerging Professionals Programme and an MA in Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent University, Rai’s work explores the intersection of biomaterials, storytelling, and forward-thinking fashion.
You can follow Ritual Rai on Instagram to learn more.
