The sound of clicking camera lenses filled the third-floor atrium of Kirkwood Hall as sophomore Olive Shurr posed in an upcycled cardboard skirt and top and paper mache antlers against a black backdrop.
Shurr, alongside other sophomores and juniors in professor Lori Frye’s Fashion Studio II class, were preparing their submissions to the annual Trashion Refashion show taking place in Bloomington in April.
Shurr and her design partner Lorena Gamez put together an outfit inspired by foliage and made with leftover craft material such as cardboard, paper and wreath leaves.
“I had all this leftover greenery from a wreath-making thing,” Shurr said. “So, we decided to do a kind of forest themed outfit, using cardboard as a basic skirt, and then cardboard packing paper for the top, which I wove. And then we did like some paper mache antlers.”
Many of these students have been working on their outfits for two to three weeks in preparation for the Feb. 16 submission date. The show itself is April 12, but every outfit must go through a vetting process held by a committee within the Trashion Refashion organization in order to be accepted into the show. The committee is looking for originality as well as the amount of previously-owned material used.
“Things they look for are the level of transformation, so it's how much do you transform your materials? Is it wearable? Is it functional?” Frye said. “They also want to try to make sure they feel like it's trash.”
Another student, sophomore Josh Sexton, is designing a cowboy look inspired by his interest in the ‘70s bootcut flared jeans look. He said this style lent itself well to the cowboy aesthetic.
For his design, Sexton plans to create a shawl out of a recycled carpet, as well as a hat made from Monster cans. He said he found his materials from a variety of locations around Bloomington and at home.
“The tarp for the pants I found in my garage,” Sexton said. “I got this carpet from Habitat ReStore, and then the shirt my partner got from Goodwill. And then we're gonna make a big hat. His buddy had a bunch of Monster cans, so we're gonna construct that out of it.”
The students are all taking a variety of directions with this project.
For example, Audrey Poynter and her design partner Linnea Correale are creating a late 18th-century Cinderella-inspired gown, outfitted with at least 500 wine corks affixed to the corset.
“My great aunt actually collected them, like all throughout the years, all these wine bottles. So, she was like, I have these wine corks.” Poynter said. “So, we cut them in half and we hot glued them to this corset, and it looks really cool.”
Poynter and Correale aren’t the only ones taking inspiration from a romantic story. Junior Phoenix Childress is creating a look based off of Netflix’s “Bridgerton.” She created a dress using duct tape and old bed sheets, which are covered in hand-crafted flowers.
She said her personal style primarily leans toward being “pretty” and utilizing “lacy things,” which led her to the “Bridgerton” inspiration.
Childress created 14 ornate flowers to accent her outfit using plastic spoons, which she hot glued together. She said she will probably make even more flowers to adorn a headpiece for the outfit as well.
“The flowers were a long process,” Childress said. “Each of them is eight spoons, and they probably each took, like, at least 10 to 15 minutes to make,”
While they have created individual garments like shirts, skirts and pants for classwork, this will be the very first show many students are designing for.
“It's gonna be my first fashion show that I've ever presented a piece at,” Poynter said. “So, I'm pretty pumped.”
The Trashion Refashion Runway Show will be held April 12 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, where many IU fashion design students’ outfits will be displayed. The show is also a fundraiser for The Center for Sustainable Living. Tickets will be released on the Trashion Refashion website closer to the show’s date.
