Runway Rubbish/ Recycled Fashion Show 2013

On the evening of the 5th of February, I had the pleasure of attending OSU's annual Recycled Fashion Show. There is quite a plethora of fashion shows at Oregon State; the Red Dress Show, the Recycled Fashion Show, Mom's Weekend Fashion Show, the Spring Fashion Show, and usually a few more non-annual events. My two favorite shows to attend are the Recycled Fashion Show and the Spring Fashion Show!

Because this year marks the 27th or 28th annual Recycled Show, I was very surprised when I saw that this year's event was free (The last two years have been $5 admission, and still managed a jammed-pack audience). I made sure that my sister and I made it to the MU Ballroom no later than when the doors opened at 6pm, and I was again surprised by the lack of a long line, or people rushing ahead to go reserve good seats. My sister and I sat about the third row from the runway and probably could have reserved a couple rows for ourselves if we wanted.

Still confused, I opened the program and the confusion was immediately cleared up. Only 30 designers in the show. 30 might seem like a large number, but with each designer typically creating one look each it doesn't equate to a very long show. Not to mention that past years have been double that number of designers.

Despite the few designers in the show, OSU's Fashion Organization still put on a great event. The audience still filled the ballroom, just no one had to stand to watch the whole show this year. Before runway part of the show began, I got to learn some new facts about what can and cannot be recycled. Like coffee cups, who knew that they belong in the trash? Apparently cardboard coated with plastic cannot be recycled in any way.

The thirty designers put on a great show! I only knew a few of the designers in the show and they proved to be as awesome as I already knew they were! Plus, there were some great new designers that demanded my attention. And not to be cynical, but there were also plenty of plain, non-creative looks make out of newspaper or bubble wrap. I don't think it would be the Recycled Fashion Show without those looks though, because this is one of the shows that student designers do not need to be an apparel design major to participate.

Now onto the designs! To start out the show was Brigitte Cluver's design (the professor who taught me all about testing textiles!) on her lovely little diva of a daughter, Mackenzie Cluver! She rocked her walk down the runway in an outfit made of old, out-grown clothes and had some fancy poses at the end of the walk!

**Note: It was sometimes difficult to hear what the MC's were saying about what the garment was made of, because of the influx of the music. I was glad to have MC's back though, it makes it much easier to spend all of my time looking at the designs rather than split my time between trying to read on the screen what the design was made of and analyzing the design.

Some other notable designs were Tayler Worrell's design, in her very classic style in this strapless dress made of receipts. Modeled by the lovely Jessica Neffendorf.

Photo by Tayler Worrell

Lauren Graebner grabbed everyone's attention with her adorable children's looks! First a cute little girl in a design made from an old pinata, high school graduation gown, and race numbers. She had a second look, equally adorable, for a little boy who even showed us his muscles at the end of the runway! Lauren's designs won the "Chair's Choice Award," the new Associate Dean loved these looks!

Photo by Genna Reeves-DeArmond

Next came the beautiful Christina Ngo, modeling her own edgy/elegant look (and fantastic pink hair!). She used caution tape, an old choir dress, and leftover ribbons and chain. I really enjoyed this look because it was one of the first women's looks in the show that had a different silhouette and wasn't made of paper.

Dina Pham and Jennifer Troung probably had my favorite "paper" dresses. They were both cute and classy, but still had some pizazz to make the look not like everyone else's. Jennifer Troung's look won the award for "Best in Show."

Jennifer Troung's design/ Photo by Genna Reeves-DeArmond

Ish Guevara is a new designer (to me anyway) who definitely got my attention. I really loved the fact that he had three looks that went together and didn't resemble the rubbish they were made of (so much so that I can't remember what they were made of!).  I especially liked the "armor" dress, and loooved the cape made of straws. The theatrics that went with the looks on the runway were fun, but not necessary in my opinion. This collection said enough for itself, especially with the eccentric styling. I'll be excited to see how this designer develops as he goes through the program.

Photo by Ish Guevara (I think)

One dazzaling design that earned itself an award, was Elisse Hansen's dress made of a mattress cover (or maybe an old air mattress) and pieces of mirror. It was a very neat affect as it went down the runway and the dress reflected little lights on the ceiling. She won the "Most Creative Use of Materials."

The last look of the show was graduate student Keith Nishida's design, modeled by the fabulous Jamie Cheung. The dress has an interesting shape, and is made of pop can tabs! I really like how the "fabric" looks like chain mail! (And I love the tiara!) Keith's look won "Most Innovative Design." I really enjoyed this design and was excited to see the difference in Keith's designs from last year's to this year's (both years were great by the way). It was an excellent look to end the show on!

Photo by Genna Reeves-DeArmond

Overall, it was a great show and I was happy that I could attend! I got in some reading while I waited for the show to start (I was so thankful I brought a book!) and was happy to catch up with some people I hadn't seen for a while. Great work designers! Good luck on your next show!! (I will have to post more photos when they become available! Enjoy these few that I stole!)

Recycled Fashions for 2011

Hmm... two posts in January, two posts in February? Perhaps I've been busy? Well, this last Thursday was the 21st annual OSU Recycled Fashion Show: Dumpster to Diamonds. I created two garments for the show, because I'm crazy and seem to love being busy.

The first garment I thought of last year: The Yin Yang Dress, made of black and white karate uniforms. My lovely model Christina did a fantastic job, made for an exciting part in the show with a fan snap!

My other creation came from trying to figure out what to do with the plastic bags my curtains came in. Then I remembered how many of these zippered bags my mom has, I told another lady about it who has lots of them, and so before I knew it I had lots of plastic zipper bags to make a dress with!

My beautiful sister Kambria modeled this dress in her best runway walk yet!

I was also really happy to have Heidi to do hair for my models, both of my amazing models did their own make up. I think I see a future of styling for Heidi in the future.... :)

It was a really great show, and if you would like to watch it, go see it on KBVR!

Some special things to note, were some of the awards my friends won:

Ashley Bates: Most Innovative Design This dress was made of her old school bag and a suitcase!

Megan Amadon: Creative Use of Material As you can see, her dress is made of footballs and turf!

No awards for me this year, but I'm very proud of my designs!

Rain Check Fashion Show

Hey Friends!

So I know I was supposed to be posting some outfits and such for this month, I don't think I fully thought through that challenge. I did manage to take pictures of 3 outfits the first week, but I have a lack of internet connection at my house, so that made things difficult. Anyway, I'll get the outfits posted that I did do, and I think that will be the end of that challenge. I don't think it is my thing to post outfits of myself... kudos to those of you who do, it's a lot of work!!

Now then!! If you weren't there, the Rain Check Fashion Show went amazingly well!!! I am so happy all of my hard word paid off! We even got an article published about it in the Gazette Times!

After an all-nighter and plenty of late nights.. some parts of my collection finally came into reality! You can expect a few more of these lovely garments for the Spring Show in May!

Now to start work on the Recycled Show! Mark your calendar for March 3rd!

Make Things Water Repellent

Above is a picture of a lotus leaf, a water repellent plant. The reason it stays so shockingly white in a skumy pond is because of it's being water repellent. In Oregon, we love clothing that is water repellent!

I've known for a while that you can purchase special sprays that you can spray on your tent, your shoes or whatever and make them water repellent. (Especially good for white fabrics, keeps them looking cleaner longer - just like the lotus!) What I didn't know until today, is that you can purchase a wash-in water repellent treatment, and treat your fabric from home!

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Rain Shed in Corvallis, looking for what fabric I am going to use for my line for the upcoming fashion show. I was informed that I could pick a fabric that didn't already have the treatment and do it myself!

The directions are on the bottle, and you apply this treatment to any fabric or even clothing you already have that might be losing it's ability to be water repellent! This might be old news to some people, but I am very excited about this!
Expect exciting things when I design my Spring collection! :D

Red Dress Fashion Show

The 2nd Annual World AIDS Day Red Dress Fashion Show took place November 30th. There were lots of designers and lots of amazing designs! It was a lot of fun to see how amazing my designer friends are!

One of my favorite dresses of the show was Ashley Bate's dress:


I've heard comments from people that they want this dress as their wedding dress in white or ivory. It's absolutely stunning, and you can really see all the time and effort she put into it.

My dress turned out pretty well, but my original design had more to it and I just ran out of time. My sister Kambria was wonderful enough to model for me again this year. She did a good job! (She did her hair and make up, AMAZING!)


And here is a photo of Ashley, Missy, and I and our beautiful dresses! I love fashion shows!

The Design world at Oregon State

A couple weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending an informational session by Oregon State's Design and Human Environment (the department I belong to) and the Engineering department presented to Alumni from Nike and Columbia Sportswear.

I got to hear about just how awesome Engineering is at Oregon State. I've always heard that they have an excellent program, but it was pretty cool to find out just how amazing it is.

The coolest part to me, was to find out how awesome the DHE department is. Currently, the faculty of DHE are trying to combine with graphic design and create the College of Design within the university. Not only that, but there is a tremendous amount of research that goes on in DHE that I had no idea about. It makes me feel proud to be attending Oregon State.

The other great part about this event, was that I got to show off my amazing shoe dress and talk a little about that and about other projects I've done at OSU, all in front of people from Nike and Columbia. I was happy to add some more business cards to my contact stack :)

Since I haven't posted a picture of my shoe dress on this blog before, here's a pic:


It's always fun to have other people get excited about something you've made. It's really exciting that I made this dress for a show last February and I still get to show it off, thanks to the great people at Oregon State taking care of their students.

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article about what OSU's design department is doing, you should check it out!

Winter Collection Preview

So finally I have produced something in my flat pattern class that I am happy to show off! This piece is a vest that I designed (specifically for disc golfing women in the winter), that will be in a fashion show in January at OSU (The Rain Check). This version of the vest is just the muslin/broadcloth version, so during Christmas break all of the yellow you see will be some lovely rain resistant fabric and the white and the rest of the inside will be some medium weight wool. I can't wait to go to the Rain Shed and see what sort of color options I'll have!

For now, enjoy these photos! Next week there should be a post about the red dress I'm making(and the Red Dress Fashion Show).

Front view: Has button-straps and a zipper for the closure.


Back: iPod pocket covered with the staps for an aesthetic appeal.


Close up on how the closure works.


Hope you've enjoyed! :D

Buttons from the Rainforest

In one of the classes I am currently taking at OSU, my professor informed us about a sustainable product called the Tagua nut. She even brought some samples in of the nut, and some jewelry and buttons made from the nut. This nut makes products that feel essentially like plastic, and used to be used in place of plastic before plastic came along.

The business of apparel is not the most sustainable, but companies continue to try and find ways to make it better. The great thing about using these buttons, is that it gives one more reason to not cut down these trees in the rain forest.

Here is what the nuts look like:



Here is some jewelry and buttons from those nuts:








The company mentioned in class that does a lot of other cool things, and uses these buttons is Winter Sun from Ecuador.

I looked around a bit on Joann's website and did not see any Tagua nut buttons. They do however sell coconut buttons and wood buttons. It seems like it's pretty easy to find these buttons on the internet, perhaps they will be included on my future collections for at least one of the many fashion shows this year!

Here are a few websites that have them:
Wood Buttons
Near Sea Naturals
Jimmy Bean's Wool
One World Button Supply (Wholesale Company)
Eco Butterfly

People, blogs, and links!

It's about time I update my blog a little bit. First, I would like to introduce some awesome people who's blogs I've been reading and I think you should definitely take a peek at. The first blog is Chic Steals, which is written by Carly J. Cais. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Portland Fashion Week back in October. She is full of really great fashion information, and I'm happy to have a different perspective for viewing designers.

The reason I got to meet this lady was all because of my friend Amanda, who writes Grishley's. Both her and Nicole (author of Cut & Sew) are talented young women I get to take classes with. Go take a look at their blogs too!

The main reason I am updating my links and blogs, is because a disc golf store called discgolfstation.com contacted me about posting a link about them in my blog if they gave me a disc. I was first of all, very excited and a bit surprised that they found me through my blog! They are sending me a lightweight Buzzz, and I'll be sure to post again when I actually get it!

The last new link I want to mention is a link to an online store called Yes Asia! It is so amazing! I have had a really difficult time finding some of the Japanese artists I've become addicted to over Youtube on the internet. This website not only has all of these awesome music artists, but they also have DVDs of the Taiwanese drama "Basketball" (or Bullfighting) that I watched over the summer. (Be careful to start watching, it is very addicting and not all of the episodes are available on youtube!) Maybe I can start making a list on here of what I want for Christmas/ Birthday! :D

Red Dress Fashion Show

Back on December 1st, the Oregon State Fashion Organization along with OSU's student health put on a fashion show in honor of World AID's day. It happens to be the first show I have ever entered anything into and I'm very glad I did it.

I am very new to sewing and being able to create what I design, so for this show I tried to do something fairly easy. I used a knit/ spandex material, which is great as far as fit goes, just some side seams and you're done! The bad thing is actually working with this kind of material. It stretches and moves all over the place when you try to sew it, you better be generous with pinning is all I can say! I added a strap and a flounce to the bottom and created a nice dress.

I know I want to make something a whole lot better when I enter into the next fashion show, but for about 2 weeks notice I am happy with what I did. Next show, Recycled Fashion! I'm thinking of doing something with shoelaces and shoe soles. Maybe I'll post a sketch soon :)

The Successful Sneak!

Yesterday was a very sad day, because the Beavers did not win the Civil War. Although we did not win, there were some exciting events that did take place.

Because of my preconceived thoughts about getting tickets to the Civil War game, I ended up finding out I actually could get them a little too late. So I had no tickets:( My two youngest sisters, Kambria and Cassandra, being the student-athletes they are, were totally planning on attending the game and getting their tickets then. Without me. Not to mention all of my other school friends attending the game. Even some of my non-school friends were going, man, did I feel like a loser.

Then I had an amazing idea. A couple home games back, when we were playing Arizona, I got a ticket but did not go to the game (an idiot was blocking my ENTIRE driveway, but that's another story). So I thought, if I have this ticket, whose stub has not been torn off, maybe I could get into the game if the person tearing tickets did not pay attention.

I wasn't really sure if I'd get in or not, I figured the odds were 50/50. My back up plan was to walk over to the Kaltenbergs and watch the game at their house.

So the day of the game came, I came into town early with my sisters so they could meet with their teammates and we could make sure no rude people would park in our driveway. My plan was to wait until right before the game when the lines were really busy and everyone was trying to get in. Then I got invited to play disc golf, and I couldn't pass that up.

After a fun little round at Mary's River, I got to the game right at 4 (the start of the game). As I was walking around the stadium to the student entrance, I was really considering not even trying this at all and just walk to my friend's house. All of the people at the gates looked really irritated, like maybe each and every one of them had a bad run-in with a drunk college student. I summoned up my courage and went to my entrance, where there was no one in line. I had my ticket and ID ready, and the guy who was tearing my ticket was kind of confused, he asked if I had already been in. I said no, and he tore my ticket and another guy stamped my wrist. I made it in!!

That's not even the whole story. One of my friends was in a very good part of the student section, a section where there are more people in blue coats wanting you to show your ticket stub to make sure you belong in that section. After much wandering around, looking for my friend, I found where I was to be and when the guy was just about to ask me to show my stub, I asked him if row 5 was down that way and I was trying to find my friend. He acted like he was still going to ask me, and said something like "well, you must have a ticket then," and let me down to the section without showing my stub. So not only did I get into the big game without waiting in line for the ticket, but I also got to sit (by sit I mean stand) in the 5th row at the 47 yard line. A very successful sneak!

Thoughts & Thanksgiving

It is coming to the end of November and I've only one post for this month. That is not to say that I have done nothing worth writing about this month, it's actually the opposite. I've been busy with so many things that I either haven't had time to write about it, or I have too many cool things to write about that I don't know where to start.

Right now I am in an interesting sort of mood. I only had one class today, which is great, because now I'm done, but because I want to get another project done before Thanksgiving break, I have to stick around in Corvallis until 4. Usually that's not such a problem either, but most of my friends work... which means however I'm going to spend my time today, it will probably be alone.

Being alone is an interesting thing. I really don't like being alone. I can handle it, but I prefer to be interacting with people instead. Not just any people of course, but friends, people that I care to spend my time with.

Anyway (let me stop sounding so depressing), I have definitely had some exciting things come my way. One thing is, I am very excited about the future. I'm finally make some real plans to do a little traveling, as well what my options are for finishing up school (or not finishing, as the case may be). I also recently got a new backpack for attending a Columbia Sportswear Focus Group session. It was a great thing to experience, and they gave all the participants an OSU Columbia Backpack! I'm pretty happy about that, because I was in desperate need for a quality backpack. I am also very excited about the things that I am learning in karate. We get to play with knives and guns, and do some pretty sweet, but complicated moves. It's also great being known as a brown belt, it makes me feel like I really am one of the Advanced students and I actually know something about the martial arts.

It appears that this blog has turned into a little update of the happenings of my life, as well as a way for me to prep for what Thanksgiving is all about. I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don't forget to cheer on the Beavers this Saturday!

The Happenings of My Life

It has been a long while since I have returned to this blog to write, and in the meantime much has happened. Since my last blog, I have won another disc golf tournament which coincides with winning the Oregon Series (the series of disc golf tournaments over the summer), I've started school again, and I'm getting ready for my brown belt test.

Disc golf is a little more off of my mind these days, because of the grand finale of the Oregon Series being over, but I am very excited about this year's outcomes. At the beginning of the season I was thinking, it would be pretty sweet to win the Oregon Series, but I felt I had no chance at that. After one or two tournaments, I realized I am very much in the running for this win. Lo and behold, it came to pass that I won 2 tournaments which sealed my spot for the win in the Oregon Series. Now I have next year to look forward to, as I will be moving up a division to try and give those girls a run for their money:)

Then there is school, which is the part of my life I am trying very hard to focus on right now. It's my senior year, so I'm finishing up my Exercise Sport Science stuff, and getting started into this Apparrel Design thing. It's very exciting to be so close to then end of my college career, and have a pretty good idea about what I want to do with my life.

Another funny thing about school is, not much has changed. There are still swarms of people at the change of the hour at every intersection, people who are obsessed with their i-pods, and those people who think rubber boots can be a fashion statement. With nothing really changing about school, I still feel different. My attitude in regards to classes and professors has changed, I used to be timid and afraid of even asking a basic question in class, but now I have a new found confidence and my professors and my peers are far less intimidating. Maybe its because I'm a senior this year, or maybe its something else.

The last big thing going on in my life (that I'm willing to blog about!) is karate. I am finally getting ready to promote to the next belt. The journey to brown belt has been quite a frustrating one for me and it isn't over yet. I have obstacles I still need to overcome to be where I want to be for this test, and time keeps zooming by me.

All in all, life is pretty great right now. I know that I will have plenty more to blog about :)