When it comes to the Trashion Show, it’s better to ask “what you can make with the trash, rather than what the trash can make for you,鈥� says Danielle Meng 鈥�20 of Beijing.
That approach paid off for Meng. The outfit she designed for model Claire Deplanck 鈥�20 of Kuala Lumpur won first prize in the annual show, in which students make runway-ready outfits out of campus trash.
The Trashion Show, organized by student EcoReps and held in the Gray Athletic Building on Nov. 20 during the pre-Thanksgiving Harvest Dinner, highlights the amount and variety of waste the campus produces.
Not that you can necessarily tell that the outfits are trash-couture. Before and after the show, models and designers happily posed for portraits by 乐播传媒 photographer Theophil Syslo and shared the creativity and philosophy behind their creations.
That鈥檚 a Wrap
Designer: Danielle Meng 鈥�20 of Beijing
Model: Claire Deplanck 鈥�20 of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Signature Trash: Bubble wrap, trash bags, and sourdough packaging from Commons
Assembly Time: About five hours
Creative Use of Trash: Tiara made from packing peanuts
The Designer Says: 鈥淚 personally do a lot of online shopping and buy a lot of stuff, and I feel bad about the packaging and the cardboard and the tape and everything I waste. I feel like that definitely could be improved.鈥�
P.S. 鈥淯se Amazon鈥檚 Delivery Day option!鈥�
Extra, Extra!
Elise Lambert ’22 of Amherst, N.H.
Designer: Women’s track and field team
Model: Elise Lambert 鈥�22 of Amherst, N.H.
Signature Trash: Back issues of The 乐播传媒 Student, and tape
Assembly Time: About 10 minutes, on the day of the show
The Designer Says: 鈥滱nything can be repurposed,鈥� says co-designer Olivia LaMarche 鈥�20 of Lynnfield, Mass. 鈥淪ometimes it鈥檚 worth saving things.鈥�
Suited to a Tea
Sukanya Shukla 鈥�20 of Dehradun, India.
Designer: Anne Trapp 鈥�20 of Brunswick, Maine
Model: Sukanya Shukla 鈥�20 of Dehradun, India
Signature Trash: Scrap muslin, lids of San Pellegrino drinks, chip bags, and candy wrappers
Assembly Time: 15 hours
Creative Use of Trash: Skirt made of teabag envelopes, partly from Commons and partly from the Olin Arts Center costume shop鈥檚 2:30 p.m. tea-times.
Proceed with Caution
Designer: Hannah Webster 鈥�22 of Shelburne, Vt.
Model: Max Freund 鈥�22 of Newfields, N.H.
Signature Trash: Empty boxes of Mike’s Twisted Tea, caution tape, and a discarded necklace
Creative Use of Trash: Yellow caution tape collected after Back to 乐播传媒 Weekend
The Designer Says: 鈥淪ort your recyclables and your trash!鈥�
Layers & Layers
Ilze Smidt 鈥�21 of Gibsonia, Pa.
Designer: Jade Zhang 鈥�21 of Hefei, China
Model: Ilze Smidt 鈥�21 of Gibsonia, Pa.
Signature Trash: Leftover fabric, yarn, and ribbons
Assembly Time: About four hours
Creative Use of Trash: Layers of tissue paper in the skirt, collected from packaging over the course of a month
The Designer Says: 鈥淭issue paper is super wasteful. If you buy two items, they give you so many of those tissue papers. It鈥檚 not necessary.鈥�
Flower Power
Sandia Taban 鈥�22 of Changsu, China.
Designers: Yueh Qi Chuah 鈥�22 of Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, and Ahimy Soto-Garcia 鈥�21 of Trenton, N.J.
Model: Sandia Taban 鈥�22 of Changsu, China
Signature Trash: Felts, beads, and chip bags
Assembly Time: About 10 hours
Creative Use of Trash: Flowers made of plastic bags from Wal-Mart
The Designer Says: 鈥淏ring reusable bags for shopping,鈥� says Chuah. 鈥滱 lot of plastic bags are being shipped to other countries 鈥� cough cough, Malaysia, cough cough.鈥�
Trash & Tiaras
Eden Rickolt 鈥�20 of Landenberg, Pa.
Designers: Madison Liistro 鈥�20 of Farmington, Conn., and Maya Wilson 鈥�20 of Toronto
Model: Eden Rickolt 鈥�20 of Landenberg, Pa.
Signature Trash: Various treasures from the Smith Hall trash cans
Assembly Time: A few hours
Creative Use of Trash: A wig that was thrown out after Halloween
The Designer Says: 鈥滱nybody can be Miss Universe if they try hard enough 鈥� or Miss Gray Cage.鈥�
Very In-Tents
Model and Designer: Talia Sperduto 鈥�21 of Canterbury, N.H.
Signature Trash: Discarded Outing Club tents
Assembly Time: 100-plus hours
The Designer Says: 鈥淲e talk about trash as the plastic bottles that we use and the plastic that we get in Commons, but we forget about textile waste.鈥�
Regal Attire
Essie Martin 鈥�21 of Newcastle, Maine.
Designer: The EcoReps, the 乐播传媒 student organization that promotes environmentally responsible behavior on campus.
Model: Essie Martin 鈥�21 of Newcastle, Maine
Signature Trash: Various packaging 鈥漝onated鈥� by Commons
Assembly Time: 20 minutes
Creative Use of Trash: Bubble-wrap cape
The Designer Says: 鈥漈he amount of trash that Commons goes through in order to feed all of us is tremendous, and the amount of waste that we produce on top of that is a lot,鈥� says co-designer Elly Beckerman 鈥�22 of Washington, D.C.
