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Customizable Prosthetics Make a Bold, Beautiful Fashion Statement

Creatives at Alleles Design Studio have made snap-on accessories that go "beyond flesh-toned foam and silicon."

Images via, unless otherwise noted

For the creatives at Alleles Design Studio, the key to a good prosthetic is all in the silhouette. The studio is responsible for a line of accessories that snap onto existing endoskeletal prostheses, assuming the same basic shape as a calf muscle—but with customizable, colorful, and artfully-made fashion pizzaz. The designers aim to do for their industry what fashion did for eyeglasses, giving people with amputations an option "beyond flesh-toned foam and silicon" and the slew of functional, yet impersonal, robotic limbs.

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"Although the functionality is better than ever, it has less relationship with the human body," co-founder Ryan Palibroda told Dezeen. "While some people are fine with the bionic or robotic nature of the prosthetic itself, others want to regain the silhouette of the body." Aside from mimicking a flesh-and-bone leg from the knee down, Alleles' covers come in a variety of patterns and styles, allowing wearers to mix and match according to their outfits. The group's website and Instagram pages host massive collections of models showing off the designs, pairing them with everything from polka dot stockings to Star Wars toys.

Alleles plans to release new prosthetic designs along the same Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter fashion calendar cycle as designer clothes, fostering the same freedom of self-expression in the realm of prosthetics as is widely available in the clothing and traditional accessories.

Below, check out some of the beautiful results:

L to R: Co-founder Ryan Palibroda, artist Terry Oh, co-founder McCauley Wanner.

Images via

To check out the prosthetics in action or order your own, visit Alleles Design Studio's website.

H/t Dezeen

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