Fashion contest showcases sustainable apparel

“In the fashion world, caring for the environment has gotten more trendy,” explained Sarah Chen ’13, a member of both Greening Princeton and Students United for a Responsible Global Environment, or SURGE. “It’s not a bad thing at all.”

The sustainable design fashion contest reflects the idea of eco-friendly fashion, which has gained popularity around the world and aims to use fashion as a vehicle to raise awareness about the larger issue of sustainability.

“We have to pick out clothing every day — it affects our everyday lives,” said Chenyu Zheng ’12, co-president of Greening Princeton and one of the event organizers.

Students submitted preliminary paper designs and then created their own clothing or jewelry from recycled materials. The designs were displayed at the Earth Day festival, but the winners will be announced by a panel of judges next week.

Art and archaeology major Julie Dickerson ’10 crafted a 1920s-era flapper dress out of old class notes, canvas, string, hot glue, old printed photographs, plastic bags and bubble wrap.

“After I did my visual arts thesis, I had a bunch of crap lying around my studio,” she explained, adding that she “totally let the materials inform” her design decisions.

Dickerson’s friend, anthropology major Jessica Lander ’10, fashioned an orange dress out of posters and ticket stubs. “When we saw the idea [for the contest], we both instantly thought, ‘Let’s make clothes out of garbage,’ ” Lander said. “I don’t know if that was the conception of the contest, but that’s how we interpreted it.”

Lander, who said she had never worked on a fashion project before, called the event a “ ‘Project Runway’-type thing.”

Event organizers said that the contest’s purpose was to raise awareness and prompt students to become more conscious about what they choose to buy.

“It’s about rethinking waste and how much you produce,” said Alexandra Landon ’12, chair of SURGE, who was involved in planning the event. “It’s also a way to reach out to the arts community.”

“Material culture is a locus for interrogating the way we as a society relate to both our consumption and ourselves as subjects in a global environment,” explained Andrew Slottje ’12, who is a member of Greening Princeton and SURGE. But, he added, “We’re not hoping that anyone will start making his or her own clothes out of postage stamps.” Slottje is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Green fashion has also become increasingly popular with renowned fashion designers, as evidenced by the separate green fashion show held as part of New York City’s Fashion Week.

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Many well-known fashion houses have introduced eco-friendly lines, and even stores like American Apparel and Urban Outfitters offer sustainable options like organic cotton T-shirts. Green fashion also incorporates vintage fashion as a more sustainable option.

Landon explained that she thought the structure of the event, which combines the Earth Day festival and contest, was an important way of facilitating actual discussions about sustainability.

“It’s great that [sustainability is] becoming trendy, but as things get trendy, sometimes the message or critical eye is lost,” she explained. “People might buy into things that seem green but actually aren’t.”

Greening Princeton plans to make this event an annual one if everything goes well. “It’s really a turning point in contemporary design,” Slottje said.

“It’s a visually arresting way to make a statement,” Chen said.