Models sporting wearable art made of plastic bags and other recyclable materials strutted down the runway Thursday at the first Community Night during Scottsdale Fashion Week.
The theme of the night challenged the professionals in the area and designers from high schools and colleges to design clothing from non-traditional materials like Dasani water bottle labels.
ASU designers, including theater junior LaSheena Adams, fibers senior Anya Melkozernova, and theater senior Mercedes O’Bannion, were invited out to the event at Scottsdale Fashion Square Drive, Adams said.
Both Adams and O’Bannion are concentrating in costume design, which is part of the theater major.
Scottsdale Fashion Week started in 2005, but community night started this year "to showcase local talent and give them exposure," said Sheila Lang, the director of the Career Development Center for the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Tempe. The institute sponsored the event, which runs until Nov. 6.
Connie Furr-Soloman, an associate professor of costume at ASU, said all three of the designers were chosen for the event by design because of their outstanding portfolios. Furr-Soloman teaches all three of the designers.
O’Bannion modeled her own dress made of Fry’s plastic bags, even though she didn’t have any previous experience modeling clothing.
“I couldn’t find anyone tall enough or ballsy enough,” O’Bannion said.
Melkozernova’s dress was woven together using colorful strips of plastic bags from different retail stores like H&M to create an extravagant gown inspired by Marie Antoinette, complete with large pink wig and powdered face.
Adams’ dress was a unique blend of organic and recycled materials.
“I went Dumpster diving,” Adams said.
The waist of the dress was made of the tongues of Converse shoes and the back of the dress was laced up with shoelaces.
The bottom of the dress was an A-line skirt decorated with a bushy plant all the way around, spray painted a glittering black to give it volume.
Adams said she loved the look of the plant because “it looked like fur and feathers.”
She said fashion shows are an expression of creativity and measure skill level of the individual designers, adding that she was particularly excited to be invited to participate on Thursday.
“It gives us an opportunity to network,” Adams said.
Theater junior AustinBree Fox said Adams asked her to model after Adams saw her perform in a play at ASU.
Fox said she had no modeling experience and she was a little scared before the event.
But she said she was “excited to see all the other styles.”
Adams is currently working in the costume shop in the Nelson Fine Arts Center on ASU’s Tempe campus, where theater classes are held.
Katherine Stephenson, one of the costume shop coordinators, said the fashion program at ASU was cut in the 1990s because there were not enough students interested in the program. She said there are currently 10 students concentrating in costuming.
Adams became interested in fashion during high school and was planning on attending the Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising, a highly acclaimed fashion design school in California. But she chose to stay in the Valley and support her mom after three people in her family died.
She had given up on studying fashion until she read about Johnson, the designer who planned Thursday’s event, in The Phoenix New Times. The story detailed how Johnson wanted to cultivate a fashion community in Phoenix.
Adams enrolled in school at Scottsdale Community College, but the program for fashion was discontinued before she could attend. She remained in school and graduated with an associate’s degree in art.
Following her time at Scottsdale Community College, Adams worked at Walt Disney World in Florida from May 2007 to January 2009 as an intern, where she was able to meet many professional costume designers.
She said working there inspired her to pursue both a career in costuming and fashion. She hopes to eventually work for Disney.
“I want to create some wonderful costume designs and translate it into retail,” Adams said.
Reach the reporter at mary.shinn@asu.edu
