blog entry

Too Sexy for his Egg Cartons?

After watching the Garbage Gladiator do his little turn on the catwalk, I’m not sure I’ll ever look at an egg carton the same way again.

We expected people to turn out for Runaway Runway Thursday night, but wow! 

What a crowd.  What a show.

Runaway Runway is a fashion show of clothing made from recycled items. 

By show time, there were 72 models, 72 outfits, and yes, the Lady Chablis (who everyone agrees looks the same as she did when she filmed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.)

Designers of all ages participated, using everything from those corrugated coffee sleeves you get at Starbucks to cupcake wrappers, Walmart bags, and one ex-mother-in-law’s lace tablecloth.

Here’s Shower Chic (at left), a get-up that uses an
old shower curtain, accessorized
with a necklace of plastic shower curtain rings. 

This dress (at right, complete with resealable zipper) is made of ramen noodle wrappers. 

 

The winner designed a flouncy number,  made with coffee filters.

But for quite a few of us, the favorite was this dress (at right) by Jillian Owens. 

She combined parts of an old prom dress  with romance novels.  So, yes, her bodice is made from the covers of bodice rippers. 

And the skirt is layers of yellowed pages.  More than one woman said she’d like to wear it (though Jillian confessed it isn’t exactly comfortable).

Taking it all in were hundreds of design enthusiasts, who came for the party at 6pm and stayed until the winners were chosen. 

Among the crowd were Amanda McClain and Ree’jeana Fletcher.  Amanda, the volunteer manager of the All-Local Farmers’ Market, was featured in skirt! a while back.  Ree’jeana is profiled in this month’s issue.

And hard-working photographer Jen Ray (who endured the Lady Chablis’s taunts with her usual good nature) stopped just long enough to let me take her picture.

Thanks to the Columbia Museum of Art for hosting this event.  Congratulations to the Columbia Design League on a great evening.  (That’s a Design League member, filmmaker Betsy Newman at right, getting into the spirit of the evening with some recycled hair.) 

And a big hurrah for all of the designers who worked hard and put their designs out there so that the rest of us could enjoy.

For more photos, check out the skirt! photogalleries.