3rd Annual Eco-Friendly Fashion Show --Dresses

I had a very large role in TYWLS 3^rd Eco-Friendly Fashion Show. Aside from organizing the event with our teacher Andrea, and the President and Vice President of the club, I also decided to make three dresses. Originally I planned on making several more, however as the date got closer a few of the models realized that they would not be available for the day of the show. This was a bit relieving for me though, being that I had a lot on my plate.

The first step in making a dress is taking the models’ measurements. I measured each model’s bust, waist, hips, back length and width, and desired dress length. I used these measurements to adjust my mannequin to the correct size and to create the lining for each dress.

Arshia's Dress

                                                      Photo Credit to: Daisy Rojas              Photo Credit to: Daniel Barbosa

I wanted to create a simple yet elegant looking dress for Arshia. Using packaging tissue paper (the white tissue paper that usually comes with your delivery when you order something online) and tissue paper that I saved from Victoria’s Secret, I created a one-shouldered dress cut at the knee. I made sure to line the dress with a plastic bag to prevent the dress from ripping when the model perspires. 

Kinza's Dress

                                                       Photo Credit to: Daisy Rojas                Photo Credit to: Maria Gonzales

Our school receives copies of the New York Times and the old copies are always recycled. I created the lining of the dress first with a black garbage bag. I took a few stacks of newspaper home and began manipulating the newspaper to fit Kinza’s body shape. I started off with the bodice, crumbling the newspaper to add texture and to make it less prone to ripping.  Next I cut several identical sized squares and layered each of them onto the skirt of the dress. After finishing the bodice and skirt of the dress I still felt as though the dress was incomplete. I searched through my art cabinet and remembered the soda can tabs my mom and I collected. I grabbed several silver ones and one red one. I aligned the silver ones on the top of the dress and sewed the red one in the middle.

Christina's Dress

                                                      Photo Credit to: Daisy Rojas              Photo Credit to: Daniel Barbosa

I knew that I wanted to create a Lady-Gaga inspired dress, so I asked one of my closest friends, Christina (who just so happens to be a hard-core Lady Gaga fan) which of Gaga’s dresses was her favorite and she showed me an image of Lady Gaga’s Black Sequined Asymmetrical Dress (she wore this dress often during her Fame Monster Tour).  I told her I would attempt to make it for her to model and she was ecstatic. My English teacher had saved a silver packaging bag made out of bubble wrap (used for packaging food) and asked me if I would like to use it. I was extremely thankful because my original idea was to create the triangle out of cardboard and to layer it with tiny squares of aluminum foil (which would have been tedious work). Using the bubble wrap, I carefully cut out a triangle proportional to Christina’s torso. I then made a heart-shaped bodice out of a black garbage bag and attached the triangle to the left side of the body.  The skirt of the dress was a bit trickier. I attached a regular piece of the garbage bag as the skirt and then focused on the “tutu” part of the skirt.  I measured how much I wanted it to stick out and used this measurement as the radius of the giant circle I was later going to cut in half. I needed the “tutu” part of the skirt to be sturdier, so I layered the circle with a thicker plastic. I cut the circle in half to create each side of the tutu and cut a slot in the middle of each semi-circle to be able to attach it to the dress. After I attached the tutu, I noticed that it still wasn’t as stable as I needed it to be.  I decided to add a little bit of thin cardboard to keep the tutu up.

On the day of the fashion show I helped my models into their dresses and was satisfied with the fact that adding a plastic lining to each of the dresses prevented the dresses from ripping. After helping my models into their dresses I stayed backstage to help adjust the dresses of other models. Double sided tape, rolls of clear tape, scissors, and staplers are the main materials needed backstage for any last minute adjustments. Surprisingly the mood backstage was fairly calm, making the experience more enjoyable. Overall, I had a lot of fun.