A third-year history and screenwriting double major, designer Alexandra Runnells has designed a look for the fourth Annual Recycled Runway Fashion Show on April 26, at 2:30 p.m at the IMU River Amphitheatre. The fashion show is designed to promote sustainable fashion by encouraging the use of recycled or thrifted materials in local artists’ looks.
“I think clothes are a great outlet for people to express who they are,” Runnells said. “I get tired of seeing people not enjoying what you can do with clothes.”
As a first-time designer, Runnells chose a material that was easy to work with: men’s ties.
“Most of the ties came from my dad. He’s retired and he travelled a lot for work, so he wore a lot of ties and suits,” Runnells said. “He gave me at least twelve.”
Runnells designed a dress by stitching and weaving the ties together. She was excited for the final look and hoped to model the dress herself after the show.
“My idea is just simple clothes that you are comfortable in, that are pretty, and fit the model’s skin tones,” Runnells said.
Her love for clothes stemmed from her desire to express herself and from the TV show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
“The show was a huge introduction to clothing and how it can shape a character and show how a character is feeling through the colors,” Runnells said.
Runnells found the show to be a great opportunity to express her love for thrifted fashion and hoped viewers would take away the power of thrifted fashion.
“Just because you bought something thrifted or made something from scratch doesn’t make it any less beautiful or worthwhile wearing,” Runnells said. “Be able to feel like you can wear something different and wear something recycled and not feel poor about your choices.”
Fourth-year graphic design and creative writing major Katherine Steahly was excited for her second fashion show. Her interest in sculpting, plus her involvement with a graphic design club, introduced her to the Recycled Runway show.
“I’m really into sculptural stuff, so I thought I might as well test it out,” Steahly said. “Then, I had so much fun doing the Recycled Runway last year that I decided I wanted to do it this year, too.”
She reminisced about her previous year’s looks, when Steahly designed two dresses made entirely from recycled materials collected from her friends and classmates.
“I took plastic water bottles and fused them in a way to make a pointy dress,” Steahly said. “And I also did one where I took those metal bottle tabs and chain-linked them together with plaster to make a dress.”
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She marveled at how quickly she had compiled the necessary materials by simply asking students for their plastic water bottles and soda tabs. She collected nearly 200 water bottles.
“It was so interesting to be able to visualize how much trash we’re putting into the environment,” Steahly said.
This year, her look is a dress made from 30 decks of cards she found at a thrift store, which she dipped in wax.
“Recycled fashion, I think of it as finding materials that have been discarded or unused and giving them a second life,” Steahly said. “Some people do it by reclaiming pieces of fabric from thrift stores and making articles by combining pieces in cool ways.”
Steahly hopes people will become more mindful of their trash output after attending the show and seeing the different ways to up-cycle style.
“I’m hoping that they take away just a way to be more conscious of what they are putting into our landfills and what we consider to be trash,” Steahly said.
As a second-time designer for the fashion show, she was awestruck by the talent she witnessed at the previous show.
“Just seeing the broad spectrum of what people can create with this trash — in seeing the care and precision they put into their looks in contrast to fast fashion — it’s just mind-blowing to me,” Steahly said.
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