![\"Trashion](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/11\/241120_Trashion_0465.webp\")
Awaiting the start of the 19th annual show on Wednesday evening, a wide gathering of campus community members \u2014 students plus faculty and staff, some with their children \u2014 milled about in the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building, snacking on assorted desserts and dancing to music by student DJ Ethan Rayburn \u201925 of Blacklick, Ohio, while folks took photos in front of a fall-themed photo booth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the crowd, the empty Trashion Show stage anticipated its models. Designers snuck backstage, creations in hand, to make final adjustments before displaying their outfits under runway lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bates President Garry W. Jenkins arrived and adopted a temporary title of fashion critic as he joined the judges\u2019 panel for the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is quintessential Bates,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cIt’s fun, but it’s also raising awareness of important issues and people celebrating fellow faculty, staff, students coming together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the show began, the crowd conveyed this community sentiment with roars of applause and yells for the models. Students were especially enthused for model and designer Cheryl Lacey, a longtime Bates staff member and director of Dining Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know how much our staff care about the students and to see them give the love right back is a beautiful thing,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the show was held in a space nicknamed the Cage, the participating students, faculty, and staff were certainly not constrained when it came to making statements with their fashionable, trash-laden pieces. Designs included an outfit fashioned in a traditional Nepali style from gift wrapping paper, a lengthy skirt and train made of shopping bags, and a top and skirt composed of food packaging waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After deliberation, the judges awarded co-designers Annie Robinson \u201926 of Atlanta, Ga., and Grace Thomas \u201926 of Bethesda, Md., first place for their elegant white gown made from recycled course readings. Second place went to Lacey, and Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read received third place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bates student EcoReps, Bates College Student Government, and Dining, Conferences and Campus Events co-hosted the Trashion Show. EcoReps Julia Neumann \u201925 of Park City, Utah, and Aneeza Ahmad \u201925 of Sharon, Mass., managed the show. The emcees were BCSG co-presidents Sivani Arvapalli \u201926 of South Windsor, Conn., and Ethan Chan \u201925 of Westborough, Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of the eight designer\/model groups presented different interpretations of Trashion, style, and sustainability:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team:<\/strong> Isabelle Larson \u201925 of East Aurora, N.Y., and Nimco Jama \u201925 of Hargeisa, Somaliland<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Grocery bags<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Bates EcoReps, both Larson and Jama are eco-minded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The students chose plastic and paper grocery bags as their design materials because of the items\u2019 ubiquitous presence, and therefore heavy contribution to waste, in daily life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe wanted the simplicity of our costumes to reflect everyday use of these materials,\u201d said Larson, a double major in biology and earth and climate sciences. “They’re so common.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jama used plastic bags for her outfit, while Larson used paper. This was intentional, to highlight the small yet powerful choices every person can make, such as simply switching from plastic to paper bags to reduce waste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you’re met with these choices about being sustainable, there is always an option,\u201d Larson said. \u201cEven with grocery bags, you can have an impact and limit your plastic use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the show paused for the judges’ deliberation, student EcoReps Maddie Weinstein \u201927 and Caroline Mayer \u201926 took the stage to quiz students about recycling facts, such as which Bates dorm recycles the least and how to effectively clean different materials before recycling them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jama, a biology major, said that the segment was a good opportunity for students to take away messages about how to recycle correctly. \u201cA lot of people usually get confused about very small things that do make a big impact on whether you recycle it or put it in a trash can,\u201d Jama said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trashion Show is far from the EcoReps\u2019 only foray into the world of sustainability. Jama, for example, works at the Bates Garden known as the Plot, farming organic produce used in on-campus dining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have been working for the Plot since my freshman year, and I’ve kind of been involved in that way, really wanting to make an impact on campus,\u201d Jama said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trashion Show fits neatly into Larson\u2019s academic work, which centers heavily around sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI talk about sustainability and climate change every single day,\u201d Larson said. “It’s just another way to represent activism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Annie Robinson \u201926 of Atlanta, Ga., and Grace Thomas \u201926 of Bethesda, Md.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Printed academic readings <\/p>\n\n\n\n Co-designers Robinson and Thomas won first prize, a $75 gift card to Forage Market, for their magnificent white gown crafted mainly from paper and accessorized with soda tabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robinson was initially inspired to participate in the Trashion Show when reflecting on a trashion-esque project she made in third grade. She reached out to Thomas, an art major, to make this year\u2019s dress, and the two took inspiration from Pinterest and other online designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robinson and Thomas made the dress, modeled by Thomas, from printed paper readings, both from their own coursework and donated by friends. They made the bouncy skirt from stacks of paper rolled up, then placed into tiered layers, and finally tied and stapled together. Variously colored annotations and even a JSTOR logo peeked out from between layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe print readings all the time,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThis is several hundred pages of readings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with many Trashion looks, the dress was difficult to fully try on until the night of the show, when the designers were able to securely tie everything into place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the best we’ve ever seen it,\u201d said Robinson, an economics major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas also sported jewelry and a purse made from soda tabs. The designers collected about 10 percent of the soda tabs themselves, Robinson said, while a friend\u2019s mom collected and donated the other 90 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two designers completed the look with boots crafted from the same printed readings, accented with soda tabs snaking around the sides and fronts of the shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Kirk Read, Professor of French and Francophone Studies, and Kerry O’Brien, retired Assistant Dean in the Dean of the Faculty office <\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: 25 years of collected The Adventures of Tintin<\/em> calendars<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his third year of walking in the Trashion Show, Read took home third prize. His tunic, covered in images from the world of Belgian cartoon character Tintin, could be considered a vintage piece, with some of its materials dating back over two decades. Read walked down the runway to the tune of \u201cLove Hate Song\u201d by none other than musician Alisa Amador \u201918, who, as a student, was Read\u2019s thesis advisee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The piece introduced a new style of fashion that Read dubbed \u201cacleisure:\u201d academic leisure clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am a fanatic of Tintin,\u201d Read said. \u201cI am both an advertisement and a \u2018trashionista.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kerry O\u2019Brien, a retired assistant dean in the Dean of the Faculty office and previous Trashion Show designer, assisted Read with this year\u2019s creation. Their one-of-a-kind work doesn\u2019t come cheap \u2014 a tag dangling off of the design proudly touted the name \u201cHouse of O\u2019Brien-Read\u201d alongside a hefty price of 4,000 euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love the creativity. I love the students in this,\u201d Read said of the Trashion Show. \u201cI’m not here to win. I’m here just to have fun and to look at what they can do. It\u2019s just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Juno Rogers \u201928 of Decatur, Ga., Natalie Damer-Salas \u201928 of Atlanta, Ga., and Ella Hassler \u201928 of Kent, Ohio<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Trash bags, sourced straight from dorm garbage<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this piece, modeled by Hassler, the designers got scrappy and scrounged materials from their dorm garbages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe looked through the trash rooms in our various dorms, and we found these supplies,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using paper bags, cardboard boxes, and trash bags, they crafted a dress with a hot pink top and matching colorful skirt adorned with flowers. Angel wings coated in trash feathers completed the look and evoked Victoria\u2019s Secret\u2019s signature design, popularized by the brand\u2019s runway show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The designers found inspiration for the neon dress in the Finnish brand Marimekko, whose multicolored, flower power-esque designs came to represent women\u2019s freedom in the hippie \u201860s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven though Marimekko is a consumerist brand and uses flashy colors, it’s always stood for more progressive values,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cThe bold colors on our dress are supposed to represent Bohemianism and the intersection between consumerism and Bohemianism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Shristi Tamang \u201928 of Kathmandu, Nepal, and Mari Nolasco Alcantara \u201928 of Tlaxcala, Mexico<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Real flowers in resin<\/p>\n\n\n\n For her bright set of clothing, designer Tamang drew inspiration from her home country of Nepal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was inspired by a Nepali Tamang Selo,\u201d Tamang said. \u201cIt’s about vibrant skirts and a top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tamang\u2019s design, featuring a white blouse and flowing skirt composed of bright blocks of paper, echoes the elegance and vibrance of the dresses often worn by performers during Tamang Selo, a music and dance of the indigenous Tamang people of the Himalayan region of Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accompanied by Taman Selo music, Alcantara modeled the outfit, showing off the light, airy skirt and matching white top as she glided down the runway. Tamang created the colorful skirt from gift wrapping paper and accessorized the outfit with a jewelry set handmade from flowers preserved in resin. A purse adorned with the same plastic material as the blouse completed the look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are made from real flowers,\u201d Tamang said, pointing toward a bright purple flower on Alcantara\u2019s necklace. \u201cEven the earrings are made from real flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Vera Song \u201927 of Naperville, Ill., Sadie Rooney \u201927 of Andover, Mass., and Ellie Millard \u201926 of Harrison, N.Y. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Red Target shopping bags<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rooney took the stage in this group\u2019s bright red, bullseye-patterned skirt, complete with a matching trail, to prove that being fashionable can be an eco-conscious endeavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The designers created the top of the look, a white crop top adorned with paper flowers, from reused academic readings, including articles about the environment, and used cups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to pull in readings that we were assigned in class or had to print out for class because we felt like they should be repurposed in some way,\u201d said Rooney, an economics and environmental studies major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the bottom of the outfit, the designers shaped Target shopping bags into a lengthy, elegant skirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The designers are members of Plant Futures, a student organization dedicated to plant-centric food systems and sustainable practices. Both the readings and bags were unused items that the students had sitting around their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her white and red outfit fit for a billboard, Rooney looked straight out of a Target ad campaign touting sustainability. In the words of their runway script, “you can be fabulous and eco-conscious, no material world required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Sophia Porecca \u201928 of Sugar Land, Texas, and Celia Horowitz \u201928 of Salt Lake City, Utah<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Discarded chemistry glasses<\/p>\n\n\n\n Porecca and Horowitz turned back the clock with their \u201980s space pop-inspired piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The designers made this outfit from tissue paper, Monster Energy drink packaging, and an Amazon package.<\/p>\n\n\n Gathering the materials made them realize \u201chow much trash we normally use on a day-to-day basis. I think that’s the whole point of the exhibition,\u201d Porecca said. \u201cIt was really cool to see how much we could accumulate. We didn’t even end up using more than half of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They completed the look with Horowitz\u2019s discarded chemistry lab glasses, fashioned from a plain academic accessory into out-of-this-world gold reflective goggles. She echoed Porecca\u2019s sentiment about the sheer volume of waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s a big pile,\u201d Horowitz said of the trash the two accumulated while making the project. \u201cWe didn’t realize.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Team<\/strong>: Cheryl Lacey, Director of Dining Services<\/p>\n\n\n\n Signature Use of Trash<\/strong>: Coffee creamer pump turned antenna<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was Lacey\u2019s third and final Trashion appearance \u2014 she retires in January. For her eclectic amalgamation of food packaging made glamorous, the judges awarded Lacey with second prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her role as director of Dining Services, Lacey sees firsthand the amount of waste generated by food packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the things about packaging in food service is a lot of plastic,\u201d Lacey said. \u201cIt\u2019s necessary because you\u2019ve got to worry about food safety. You have to worry about freshness and quality so it\u2019s necessary but most of that\u2019s not recyclable.\u201d Someday, she hopes, food packaging will be sustainable and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To craft her quirky, almost extraterrestrial outfit, Lacey incorporated waste from Commons and other locations. Materials included plastic pasta bags, coffee bags, chocolate chip bags, a bag for limes, a bag for clementines, a container for watermelon, milk machine parts, alternative milk item packaging, and broken CDs. The pump from inside a coffee creamer carton perched on her head like an antenna completed the striking outfit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lacey\u2019s participation in creative and illuminating events like the Trashion show will be part of her legacy at Bates as a lively, dedicated staff member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it does call attention to the issue of waste and trying to divert waste from the waste stream, but beyond that, it just brings out the creativity in people and you see the most inspiring outfits,\u201d Lacey said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see what people can do with trash. Amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the Bates Trashion Show, one person\u2019s trash is not just another\u2019s treasure, but perhaps even another\u2019s trend. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1827,"featured_media":166617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[243,232,11012],"tags":[3125,11532,11177,8805],"class_list":["post-166586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual-events","category-environment-sustainability","category-student-life","tag-ecoreps","tag-green-innovation-grants","tag-tom-twist","tag-trashion-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166586"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166663,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166586\/revisions\/166663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Trashion](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/11\/241120_Trashion_1394.webp\")
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EcoReps Take the Stage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Trashion](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/11\/241121_Trashion_Show_0616.webp\")
![\"Trashion](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/11\/241120_Trashion_1937.webp\")
\n\n\n\nRead What You Sew<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nThird Time\u2019s the Trashionista<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Trashion](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/11\/241121_Trashion_Show_0668.webp\")
\n\n\n\nGroooooovy!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nTrash Transformed to Tradition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nSustainable Material, Girl!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nTime and Space Travel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nCoffee Bags and Milk Machines and Broken CDs, Oh My!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Trashion](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2024\/11\/241121_Trashion_Show_0599.webp\")