Hold it. Put down that ferociously shoulder padded fuchsia pantsuit. The piece that you are on the brink of burning in fashion effigy has worth! As the Boston College campus makes a slow trudge toward abandoning harmful ecological activity, something as small as reimagining an old oxford shirt into a chic mini-dress can go a long way. This is most certainly the state of mind behind campus' most couture eco-friendly endeavor: the Re-Sewn Fashion Show.
Before the Re-Sewn Fashion Show takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Heights Room, there is much to be done to "make it work," as the legendary Tim Gunn would note. Luckily, the show is in the capable hands of Art Club President Lauren Gomez, A&S '11, Ecopledge leaders Kelley Fitzgibbons, CSOM '11, and Elizabeth Barthelmes, A&S '11, and Kathie Chang, UGBC director of fine art and CSOM '11. The collaborative efforts of these industrious young women brought this past weekend's "Project Greenway" to fruition in both the Vanderslice Cabaret room and Eagle's Nest. Ultimately, this marathon of sewing is going to produce a staggeringly hip body of work that will be on display during the runway show. The show will be part of October's overall "Live Green" theme, and in the days prior to the fashion show, there will be lectures about ecoproducts (how you can clean and work with more environmental products), ecofood (purchasing environmentally friendly food), and finally Re-Sewn's eco-fashion.
This collaborative effort will hopefully reach the community with the message that even tiny lifestyle changes can make an effective impact. The Re-Sewn show will have "Tim Gunn" emceeing the crowd while students will model the ecofriendly entries on the catwalk. All make-up and hairstyles will rely solely on organic and all-natural products. In the end, one student's entry will be picked as the winner of the Re-Sewn Fashion Show. The show will also include tips on how to reuse clothing and where to purchase eco-friendly clothes. At least six local Boston-area eco-friendly designers have also agreed to contribute pieces for models to strut down the runway.
Chang noted that despite the weekend's busy agenda with College Game Day activities, the group had about a 30-person turnout for the preliminary Project Greenway on Saturday alone, something that Chang attributes to the fact that "you can be creative with it [ecofashion]. People often think only of organic clothing made from vegan fabric, but just by going to the Garment District and using old clothes you can still recycle."
Indeed, students are embracing the green movement for many reasons. London McWilliams, A&S ' 11, for example, was busy creating a denim dress as she explained, "I know what I want to wear, and it's hard to find it. [A lot of it] has to do with price because right now I'm in college … It's a talent to make clothes, so why not use it?" McWilliams, who was also providing the music in the Project Greenway workroom, notes that opportunities like Greenway are (quite literally) priceless. Even students who are smartly cutting corners by shopping at Second Time Around are paying more than the girls who were gluing, stitching, and pinning at this dormant fashion buffet.
Therefore, as probably imagined, the scene of the workroom was something straight out of Project Runway, but with pumping music and, instead of fabrics from Mood, a table with a mountain of vintage clothes, shoes, belts, and accessories. Barthelmes explained half of the 17 pounds of contributed clothes come from the Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts, a historical museum whose tagline is "How we have lived, worked, dressed, and played from the 17th century to today." Therein lies the structure behind this entire effort: embracing fashion history, reinventing the fashion future. The organizers plan to donate all leftover pieces to a local shelter before the fashion show. Chang and Barthelmes said that they are still deciding where the student designs will end up, though both hope that they can produce some proceeds that will ultimately go toward a green initiative at BC (e.g., energy saving light bulbs).
Student designer Alisa Cenaj, A&S '11, hoping to create something "classic and casual," expressed students "have a lot of clothes we get sick of, so why not do something with them?" With Greenway's room full of feathers, sequins, and metallic paint hues, being ecofriendly never looked so ferociously fun. If the white '80s style jacket with severe shoulder pads, bespeckled with gold splatter paint, or the pink mini-dress with black and white feather and tulle accents, serve as any indication, BC students are in for an eclectic and exciting show. Hopefully the show will inspire students to take a critical look at their own wardrobe and reinvent their former favorite pieces. Don't miss the re-styled, re-worked, re-cycled, re-imagined runway! By the looks of things, it's going to be re-ally fantastic.
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