Trashion Refashion showcases fashions

Crowds overflowed the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Sunday night. The sheer amount of people swelling within the walls of the house created a sound that overpowered the background music. Protruding out of the stage was a short runway.

While the show, called Trashion Refashion, was eclectic in the way that it featured many local acts, live music and an aerial acrobatics show, recycled fashion was the event’s heart and soul. Five hours earlier, designer and model Mackenzie Keller sat on a campus bus on her way to the rehearsal.

“It was partially a school project that wound up with a show,” she said. “So a few of us entered our pieces.”

All of the materials in her piece, along with the other designers, came from old clothing, she said. Her vibrantly colored piece used fabric from the $5 bin in the vintage shop Cactus Flower. She said the show’s purpose was to physically show that life can be seen in any garment, young or old.

“You’re still able to wear something that’s kind of discarded,” Keller said.
Of course, being that all of the materials used were either trash or vintage clothing, creating something special required a lot of work. While laughing, she said the fur that rimmed her shoulders later in the show had to be recuperated using drastic amounts of leather polish.

“They were kind of dead,” Keller said.

Keller walked down the runway for the refashion portion. The blue dress she wore took about two days to make, she said. Not too long after, a pale pink gown floated down the stage, it’s model and designer donning an ornate headpiece made out of teddy-bear stuffing and panty hose.

Bryn Taugensee, an IU senior, said during the rehearsal that the beauty
uncommonly seen in decay inspired her.

“This piece is called withering beauty,” she said.

Her piece was originally a faded gown, however Sunday, it hung on her hips as an elaborate dress featuring ruffled lace at the skirt. Her high-fashion piece gave her an air of confidence when she walked the runway. 

“I’ve never modeled really,” she said. “So it will be interesting.”

At the end of the first half of the fashion show, both girls streamed down the runway along with the other designers and models. 

Keller said she wasn’t nervous about walking for hundreds of people. She said she was more anxious for finals week. What did give her more stress, she said, was creating a name for the blue dress wrapping her form.

“It was really hard to pick a name,” she said. “I kind of ended up with the title ‘Blueberry Pop Tart.’”