THE CORK DRESS
MODEL, LAURA COLEMAN
This piece is completely fabricated out of wine corks and unbleached cotton twine. There was a two part process to constructing this design. First, I made a loom out of an old picture frame and small nails. I then wove unbleached cotton twine into the fabric for the bandeau piece. For the cork piece, I first steamed the 208 corks so that they would not deteriorate as easily when holes were drilled in them. After drilling two holes directly in the center of each cork, I threaded the corks together using the twine. On the top portion of the dress I revealed the stained portion of the cork to create a distinction between the bodice and the skirt and to add color. The unbleached twine was then stained with red wine, Merlot to be exact, to create the illusion that the dress was bleeding. The construction of this design took about a week to execute. This piece was entered into an art competition sponsored by the University of South Carolina's Art and Theatre department in 2015 where it was awarded Best in Show.
THE CARD DRESS
MODEL, LAURA COLEMAN
This dress is a unique two piece ensemble. I drew inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The materials used in this design consisted of more than 300 vintage playing cards from the 1940's and a mismatched chess set. I was shopping at my favorite local antique store and came across boxes and boxes of vintage bridge sets. The cards were sewn together and the two pieces were secured with brad's. The accessories are also all created out of the vintage playing cards. The design took a little over 72 hours to create. This piece was entered into the Reclaimed Runway in 2015 were it was awarded first place.
THE BOTTLE DRESS
MODEL, SARA GRIER THOMPSON
WITH YOANNA HOUSE
"The Bottle Dress" was the very first design that I created out of recycled materials. The materials used were plastic bottles and plastic plates. It took roughly two months to create and over 200 plastic bottles. Plastic bottles were cut down into tear-drop shapes to form the bodice and the bottles were cut into triangular shapes to form the train. The dress was secured onto an up-cycled sheath dress with hot glue, as I found was the only substance that would hold the plastic together. This piece was entered into the Reclaimed Runway in 2013 were it was awarded first place. It was also featured at the University of South Carolina's Student Designer Showcase that spring.
THE FIRST ONE
This design was the very first piece that I made. I designed this dress my senior year in High School to wear in a school pageant. A bunch of old prom and formal dresses were donated to our school so that if anyone did not have a dress to wear to prom a free one would be available. A formal Vera Wang dress was picked over and not selected for a prom dress so I had the privilege of taking it home with me. I took the outer layer of the dress off and used the structured layer to build the new dress. The dress took me a little over two months to create. Unfortunately, my pageant skills are not as advanced as my sewing skills are so I did not place in the pageant. I did however enter the dress in the spring 2013 Chester County Superintendent's Art show where I was awarded first place and the Superintendent's Award. The month after the art show it was on display at our local Art's Council Gallery.
