Violetta Litvinova's unusual designs made from Conti cord: flowing materials in chic colours. Continental

If you want to be chic this spring, you wear Conti. The Russian fashion designer Violetta Litvinova is setting the latest trend in spring and summer fashion for 2007, by tailoring dresses, hats, scarves and even place mats for her collection made from tyre cord. If this makes you think of a rubbery, rigid material, then think again. Violetta Litvinova's fabrics of Continental tyre cord are delicate, flowing materials and come in chic colours like aqua, chocolate or red-gold.

The cord fabric—which consists of cotton, rayon, nylon or polyester threads—is an important component in the high-tech world of tyre production. The substructure of the tyre, known as the carcass, is made up of these textile fibres which are twisted into a cord and processed into a fabric in which all the strands run in one direction.

This cord fabric is then coated with rubber and gives the tyre its structure and strength. There are about 1,400 strands per tyre carcass, and each strand can transmit a force of 15 kilograms.

Litvinova is familiar with this material from her student days when she worked in tyre production. The fashion designer said: "That's why I am familiar with the properties of this tyre cord and why I got the idea to use this material for my collections." Experts are also excited about Litvinova's Continental cord designs, which were shown at the Düsseldorf CPD fashion show this year.