Four sophomores at the University of Hefei recently proved that you can make a designer dress yourself, for free, using only plant leaves.
最近，合肥大学的4名大二学生证明：你可以一分钱不花，只用树叶就能给自己做件高档时装。
The students behind the unique dress got the idea for it over six months ago, while trying to come up with an interesting project for the university's annual "Animal and Plant Specimen Contest" at the University of Hefei.
6个月前，做出这条独一无二的裙子的学生们想出了这个创意，当时他们正在为合肥大学年度“动植物标本大赛”构思一个有趣的提案。
The four women were inspired by the gorgeous dress worn by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing at the Cannes Festival, and tried to recreate it out of plant leaves.
这4个女生的灵感来自国内女演员范冰冰在戛纳电影节上穿的那条华丽的礼服裙，试图用植物的叶子重现这条裙子。
After researching the best way to use plant leaves as fabric, and coming up with a design for their dress, the four students started collecting the leaves.
在研究出用树叶作为面料的最佳方式和画好裙子的设计图后，四个学生就开始收集树叶。
Some species were readily available on campus, but others, like magnolia leaves were not, so they had to travel to Tianzhu Mountain to collect them.
有些树叶在校园里很容易找到，但有些树叶，比如广玉兰树叶，校园里就没有，为了收集这些叶子他们还特地去了天柱山。
To ensure that the collected leaves didn't shrivel or rot, the students removed the flesh by boiling them in alkali and sodium carbonate solution for about two hours.
为了确保这些收集来的叶子不会枯萎或腐烂，这些学生把叶子放在碱水和苏打水中煮两个小时来去除叶肉。
This made the flesh easier peeled away, leaving only the "skeleton" of the leaf, a thin film with all the intricate veins left intact.
这样能让叶肉更容易剥离，留下来的只有叶子的“骨架”，一张脉络完整的薄膜。
The four science and biotechnology students could only work on their special dress after classes and on weekends, so it took them nearly four months to complete.
这四名生物技术专业的学生只能在课后和周末做这条特别的裙子，所以他们花了将近四个月时间才完成。
But it all paid off when one of the students finally put on the leaf dress and showed it off to everyone.
但最终当其中一个女生穿上这条树叶裙向大家展示时，一切努力都是值得的。
They posted photos of it, at various stages, online, and it went viral almost instantly.
她们将树叶裙不同制作阶段的照片传到网上，几乎瞬间就走红了。