Tailor-Made Fun: Thrift-Store Finds Transformed into Fresh Fashions

Art and environmentalism are combining in a “cents-ible” assignment for sophomore fashion students in the University of Cincinnati’s internationally ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP).

The students just completed their first project in which they were asked to design and create an entire ensemble based on a well-known piece of art. The assignment came with an additional twist however: They had to find the basic materials for their garments at a local Society of St. Vincent de Paul thrift store and spend no more than $20 on those materials.

About 60 students took on the challenge, and the results of their efforts were unveiled for the first time on March 18 in DAAP’s main auditorium. They will next be exhibited during a city-wide fashion show in October that will benefit St. Vincent de Paul.

Student Ester Farr, 27, of Estonia, transformed a heavy, army-green car cover into a dramatic red swath of a billowing, full-length skirt. Working with the dense, heavy material in shaping the skirt and then using red wall- and spray paint to transform the color was taxing for more than her design skills.

“The material has been so heavy to work with. The constant manipulating of it that I had to do to shape and hand paint it actually made my muscles hurt. My arms still hurt. I definitely learned not to wait till the last minute to do this kind of project. There was no way I could give my hands and arms a break if I was going to finish it on time,” she said.  

Though there was one advantage to recycling a car cover into a skirt: “Well,” said Farr, “I do have a water-proof skirt.”

She based her garment on a Georgia O’Keefe painting, Oriental Poppies, which presents a close-up view of two, dramatic red poppies, and Farr sought to capture the essential drama of that O’Keefe painting.

Fellow student Sarah Hasselbeck, 20, of Western Hills, turned to the same work of art for inspiration in creating her recycled dress; however, her interpretation was more literal than that of Farr. Hasselbeck transformed a yellow blouse and two prom dresses into a short, sleeveless dress featuring a skirt literally covered in carefully formed poppy flowers of fabric. She even singed the edges of each fabric flower to give the blossoms the telltale crinkling of a flower’s petals when just past full bloom.

“The best part of this assignment,” said Hasselbeck, “Was doing something different that had few boundaries. We’d never made a complete dress before from start to finish. It was great and fun to complete that challenge in an unusual project.”

The students were led in the project by Jacqueline Burris, assistant professor of fashion design; Jenny Sauer, visiting assistant professor of fashion design; and Mary Wright, adjunct instructor of fashion design. For the students, the idea behind the assignment is to help them see with new eyes and to provide a chance and the challenge of using some nontraditional materials within the design process. Said Burris, “Students explore their creativity and show their individual personalities by coming up with an idea. They then have to figure out how to make it real.”

Student Jennifer Hudson, 20, of St. Louis, based her garment on the work of iconoclastic artist Pablo Picasso. Just as Picasso mixed media and perspectives to create his art, she mixed a variety of old garments – a blazer, a polyester dress, stretch-cotton blouse and more – to create a variegated ensemble that made for a creative impact. The best part of the assignment for her was “learning that I can interpret something like a work of art in my own individual way. While I’m being influenced by something outside of myself, I’m still making it uniquely my own.”

Betsy Jacobs, 21, of Madeira, creatively employed spray paint and fishing wire to transform a one-time wedding gown and evening dress into a dramatic garment that reflected one in a portrait of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth I by artist Nicholas Hilliard.

“Since this was the first dress we were going to create, I wanted to do something dramatic. Not to mention the fact that we were going to be graded on our stage presence. So, I went to a royal drama queen for inspiration,” she said. Actually, explained Jacobs, she drew from her coursework in another class, The History of Fashion Design, in seeking inspiration for the thrift-store fashion assignment.

Fellow student Justine Miller, 20, of Wyoming, Ohio, similarly selected a historic figure when searching for fashionable inspiration. Miller based her garment on a Jacques-Louis David painting entitled Napoleon Crossing the St. Bernard Pass. She transformed running-track jackets, cloth napkins, a table runner, sweat pants and a straw hat into a “portrait in fashion” of France’s Little General.

She explained, “I wanted to select a work of art portraying a man because I knew that would be different in terms of subject matter than what other students might select. Also, I like the detail in fashion that was common from that culture and era. The frills and lace from that time go a long way toward creating dramatic effect, interest and fun – more of a thrill.”

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