By Elyse Breeze, @ElyseBreeze
St. Bonaventure University’s on-campus recycling club celebrated this year’s “Recyclemania” by hosting the 2nd annual Trashion Fashion Show in the Quick Center for the Arts. On Thursday night, students from Tread Lightly, which organized the event, used this as an opportunity to suggest practical ways of converting the items we would consider trash into fashion statements.
The hosts of the evening, Rebecca Wager and Sean Conklin, introduced the fashions one by one as they strutted onto the stage. Post-consumer products of all kinds were used in the making: garbage bags, coffee filters, macaroni and cheese boxes, paint samples, tampon boxes, and so much more. Wager, herself, sported a custom made newspaper vest she had clipped up the night before out of boredom.
Between acts, the audience was graced with several performances by members of the Slam Poetry Club regarding Mother Earth; important lessons in loving yourself, philosophy, and the first man who gave himself a haircut.
The judges chose their favorites in the following categories: “Top model,” “Top model runner-up,” “Top Trashionista,” and “Second Runner-Up Trashionista.”
Top Model went to David Bryant and Ellie Perez, “Sustainable Love” inspired and designed by Bonaventure’s LGBTQ club, Spectrum. Bryant sported a white garbage bag tank that read “NO H8” in bold, red letters paired with black garbage bag pants; Perez strutted across the stage clad in a garbage bag dress that opened up to reveal some extra flair of every color. Top Model Runner-Up went to Chernice Miller, “Gatsby’s American Dream.” Miller showed off her 1920s inspired flapper dress made from recycled paint samples and looked absolutely stunning.
Second runner-up Trashionista went to Evelyn Penman for her umbrella-like design. Who knew someone could make a skirt made from an old umbrella look that good? Top Trashionista went to Maggie Loomis, “Sweet Charities.” This outfit was made completely out of macaroni and cheese boxes, packets, and wrappers.
Sr. Suzanne closed the show by informing the audience that Bonaventure has been ranked 102nd out of 328 participants worldwide for recycling, and that we have increased our total percentage of recycled materials to almost 25 percent, which is substantial compared to last year’s total of 18.6 percent.
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