In the Philippines, a group of extreme nerds have taken minutes to do what Philip Treacy has taken decades to achieve. With little more than a pair of craft scissors and a pile of cardboard, students at a college in Legazpi City have created boundary-breaking headpieces in an attempt to stop their peers – and each other – from cheating during mid-term exams. Looking like a gaggle of proto-Isabella Blows with bins, paper bags, and underwear strapped across their foreheads, these creations are the heady culmination of self-interest and stunning architectural know-how.

Taking place, quite naturally, on a mechanical engineering course, the students’ professor said she had been looking for a “fun way” to guarantee “integrity and honesty” amongst the cohort. Inspired by a Thai technique – whereby students stick sheets of paper to either side of their head like horse blinkers – the teacher gave her engineer-milliners five minutes to create gravity-defying objéts sourced from old bits and bobs left in and around the classroom. If only this ingenuity could be extended beyond the bounds of a Philippine classroom – I, too, cloak myself in complete trash to shrink from view. 

According to sources (maybe) Adrian Joffe is planning a series of installations across the global Dover Street Markets with some of the most ingenious designs; Central Saint Martins has, unfortunately, been rendered obsolete; and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode in Paris has officially shuttered. Julia Fox has never been so inspired to DIY a jaunty little fascinator! Below, we take a closer look at some of these gorgeous, avant-garde masterpieces.