Lights glared brightly on the faces of models and artists in the show. With an eye toward creating fashionable, eco-suave clothing, the participants were prepared to strut their stuff in pursuit of saving the planet.
The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), and Phi Upsilon Omicron (Phi U) put together an Eco Chic Fashion show to raise awareness on sustainability through clothing and fashion. The event featured student designers and models whose used “eco-friendly” materials to create fashionable clothing designs.
With featured guest speaker, Patricia Moura, a Brazillian bio-Jewelry designer, participants in the show along with audience members could see how recyclable items can be made into beautiful pieces of art. In her designs, Moura uses materials from her local ecosystem (seeds, nuts, etc.) to create designs and jewelry pieces by hand.
The designs had an earthy feel to them from the materials Moura used. She chose browns and deep, bold blues and greens to compliment her jewelry. Her designs looked far from recycled; they instead resembled a beautifully renewed piece of art.
Kara Duggan, a UW English graduate, listened to Moura’s speech and attended the eco-friendly event. She said she believes the concentration on sustainable textiles and art were important.
“I enjoyed listening to the guest speaker because it was on sustainable textiles and art,” Duggan said.
Twenty-two student designers were in attendance at the event, prepared to bring recycled, fashion-forward designs to the runway. Paul Ditty, winner of the “People’s Choice Award” at the event, was inspired to create his designs from hotel bed sheets from the Holiday Inn, where he works as an assistant house keeper.
“The bedding with holes or rips get thrown away or donated at the hotel,” Ditty said. Because of this, he had plenty of fabric to choose from when making his design. He dyed the sheets bright colors and created a dress and matching shorts and shirt for his models.
Kassidy Nordyke, a fifth-year general biology major and close friend of Ditty, volunteered to be the female model for the designer. She strutted her stuff in the bright and colorful strapless dress, designed by Ditty.
Other outfits in the show were made from equally “green” materials like duct tape, paper and newspaper. A couple of dresses were even made out of painted paper, one with the design going through the middle of a black dress. The thrift store look was very chic and fashion savvy at the event, proving you can look great on a budget while helping save the environment.
Nordyke enjoyed the specific design of her outfit and said she was proud of the ingenuity seen at the event.
“You can wear it for anything – it’s everyday clothes,” Nordyke said. “The best part of this event was that it showed how to upgrade trash to be wearable, eco-friendly clothing.”
Jenna Hotovec, president of the AAFCS and co-coordinator of the event, said she was happy with the turnout. With word of a successful event in the air, many in attendance had positive reviews for the competing designers.
“We wanted to participate and get a lot of students from our own department and our name out there,” Hotovec said.
Co-coordinator Jessica Los, president of Phi U, was equally pleased with the event. Phi U is a family and consumer sciences honor society. The two groups worked together to put on the event and to “promote awareness on fashion and textile sustainability as well as to give the groups a platform on campus,” said Los.
The amount of people in attendance and designers who worked on the eco-friendly fashion statements proved of these groups’ efforts and success at raising awareness on textile and fashion sustainability. Through this event, the group was able to construct a show with a concrete purpose to promote recycling and eco-friendly fashion.
