Leather garments on a runway can be controversial, and Gracie Macleod's handmade bodices and belts will certainly raise eyebrows.

That's because they're made of discarded fish skins, tanned and sourced by the 19-year-old fashion student.

The fish leather pieces are part of three looks Macleod showed on the sold-out student collections runway, as part of Melbourne Fashion Week on Friday night.

To make the material, she sources salmon skins from a fishmonger at the South Melbourne market, then spends a day de-scaling and washing them with vinegar and soap, before a two-week tanning process.

"That does mostly get rid of the smell ... it's not fishy as such but it smells like the ocean, it smells salty," she said.

The skins are small - one of her bodices requires 25 of them - but the Laun

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