Is that a condom dress you're wearing? Very understated

Sure, you could go to a trendy fashion show in New York in the hopes of seeing Naomi Campbell hurl a cellphone at the crowd, but once you’ve been to Beijing’s annual condom catwalk extravaganza, fashion shows that refrain from making their garments from birth control staples just seem downright dull.

• Check out this slideshow of unbelievable condom confections

In Beijing, amidst extravagant soap bubble special effects models showed off wedding gowns, scaly-looking evening dresses, zany bikinis and other apparel made entirely of condoms, inflated or otherwise. (I’ll assume the scrunched face made by one model wearing a tight condom dress meant that she got stuck with the lubed lot).

The show took place at the Fourth China Reproductive Health New Technologies and Products Expo and sponsored by China's largest condom manufacturer, Guilin Latex Factory, to promote the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

It also marked World Population Day, organized annually by the U.N. Population Fund. China, with a population of 1.3 billion, implemented a strict one-child policy in the late 1970s under which many residents are limited to one child. Yu Xuejun, spokesman with the State Population and Family Planning Commission reiterated that China would not relax its population control policy in the future. 

But the fashion show’s main goal was to promote AIDS awareness. A lack of sex education and hesitancy to talk openly about sex still hampers the fight, health experts say.

It's a great cause and a fun celebration of fashion, so I decided to support the campaign. But frustratingly, my brother still has yet to wear the condom business suit I bought him for Christmas.