In just two decades the ubiquitous smartphone has upended society and ushered in a “fast tech” era of built-in obsolescence. But what can be done with this resource-guzzling device when its time is up?

Deep in rural Nagaland in northeastern India, local teenagers immerse themselves in the anime dress-up culture of east Asia. Call it culture clash, joyful improvisation… or straightforward freedom of expression

Hitchcockian housewifes get tangled up with fetishwear and surreal Victoriana, courtesy of character-led fashion label AUGUST BARRON. Born from a love of repurposing vintage garments, the label turns the past into something altogether stranger. Curiouser and curiouser…

Want not, waste not… photographer Kerry J Dean and designer San J Kim make use of the jongnyangje, the standard waste-disposal bag found across Korea, to turn the expendable into something worth keeping

Artisanal designer and avid upcycler GIOVANNA FLORES finds dynamism and desire in everything from swathes of unwanted velour to neon green Walmart trackpants. Her sought-after designs are intentionally hard to come by – and despite appearances to the contrary, you’re unlikely to pick one up at the Brimfield flea market in Massachusetts…

Through interdisciplinary approaches, these female artists critically examine the complex and evolving relationships between humans and their surrounding environments. While some practices are informed by urgent ecological concerns, including climate change and pollution, others seek to engage collaboratively with natural systems and materials. These approaches explore broader questions of memory, collective experience, and the incomprehensible scale of geological processes

For more than four decades, leatherworker Daniel Rodan has crafted apparel, bags and custom designs with the tagline “Made in Berlin. Worn everywhere.” His witty, playful take on familiar forms regularly features recycled leather garments, furs and bags, reworked and remodelled into luxurious one-off pieces

Mudlarking is the activity of searching the muddy banks and shores of tidal rivers – most famously the Thames in London – at low tide to find valuable, historical or interesting objects. Mudlarker Emily Frances Barrett arranges some of her most fascinating finds from the dirty old river

Delaine le BAS’s Roma heritage is woven into multimedia installations – but she refuses to be confined by a neat box. While a Turner Prize nomination has brought her art to fresh audiences, don’t expect her to join the establishment any time soon

The thrill of a vintage bookshop is that you never know quite what you might discover. Our favourite booksellers pick out their choicest new stock

Baltimore-based yarnmeister Sam Barsky’s site-specific knitwear has a story to tell – about landmarks both physical and personal

Meet the costume designers of tomorrow – the students of the Lycée Paul Poiret in Paris, whose designs inhabit that theatrical hinterland where high drama and haute couture exchange dialogue. The show must go on!