Five models rocked the Fillius Events Barn runway at Hamilton College’s sixth annual Trashion Show. This tradition wraps up Hamilton Sustainability Club’s ‘Recyclemania’ as it challenges students to get creative with materials that are typically thrown away. The designers managed to incorporate, beautifully, materials as banal as garbage bags and toilet paper into creative outfits.
One of the dresses, modeled by Julia Dailey ’18, included feminist overtones with strips of cardboard posters leftover from the Utica Women’s March. These cardboard strips had large, bold phrases across them, such as “Bitches” and “#ElectMoreWomen.” They were used as pleats on the skirt portion of Dailey’s dress, which she stated was made of “balloon material.” The incorporation of both feminism and environmental sustainability won this very woke outfit second place.
When asked by the judge who she would want to wear her dress, Dailey chose professor Nancy Rabinowitz, Professor of Comparative Literature, who had attended the Women’s March with Dailey.
After only two days of planning, the Hamilton Environmental Action Group (HEAG) designed an impressive black-garbage-bag dress, fiercely modeled by HEAG e-Board leader, Tierney Latham ’21. This flattering dress incorporated braided garbage bag straps and an A-line skirt decorated with a magazine collage. To top it off, Latham wore a statement magazine-collage bow on top of her updo.
Although this dress did not make it into the top three, the simplicity of the materials is commendable. HEAG used materials that anyone could find around their dorm, thereby encouraging Recyclemania’s main purpose.
Asha Grossberndt ’21 was by far the most nimble of the models, cartwheeling down the catwalk. While the other designers went for springtime vibes in their dresses, Grossberndt’s dress harkened back to winter imagery with the use of a sparkly white material resembling cheese cloth. The hem and neck of the dress were lined by cotton balls, intended to resemble clouds. Using toilet paper as a belt, the dress featured a cinched waist that suited the model. Out of all the dresses on the runway, this one would blend in the most with conventional non-trash clothing.
The singular male model, Michael Moubarak ’21, boldly sported a loose-fitting trash bag dress. In many ways, this outfit resembled Dailey’s trash bag dress, but deviated in fit and materials.
For example, instead of using a magazine collage as an A-line skirt, Moubarak strutted in a colorful Hawaiian skirt. Made from old issues of
The Duel Observer
and
The Daily Bull
, among other student publications, it was clear that Moubarak put much thought into using materials that would have otherwise been discarded. The extravagant crown on top of Moubarak’s head was made exclusively of
The Daily Bull
publications to give it a consistent yellow color. After winning third place, Moubarak graciously placed this crown on the mascot of Alexander Hamilton, who sat beside the judge.
Sarah Magee ’18, who had been planning her outfit for a year, was an obvious first-place winner. Her ostentatious floor-length gown was made of royal blue table cloth, which she recycled from Hillel. Magee decorated the body of the gown with sundry origami flowers, hearts, and other springtime designs. Her purse, made of pipe cleaners and copies of a
Duel Observer
article, added a touch of comedy to the dress. These year-old copies had large font written across the page repeatedly stating, “THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT TRASHION OUTFIT.” Magee explained how she began to plan her outfit after this publication was released.
“I saw them in the dining halls after last year’s trashion show, and I was like, ‘you’re on!’” she said.
Although every outfit displayed striking creativity and resourcefulness, the time Magee had put into planning her dress easily stole the show.
