Trash-chic:A Reflection On Consumption Through Fashion

Julia Rhault

Contents 1 Introduction

2 Snack Attack

4 The Great Bagsby

6 The Ultimate Cocktail

8 Smokin’

10 Steeped in Color

12 Slave to Fashion

14 The Designer 15 Exposure

20 Extras

IntroductionCollege students are thought to be the nation’s future: young adults seeking higher education set to enter the workforce and improve our country. As our parents know, we are a financial black hole. We are a selfish insecure breed always eager to please. Following the over-consumption trend of the nation, we are one of the most wasteful age groups. We are the apples to our par-ents’ eyes. Some are given allowances, others opt for part-time jobs or work-study programs. Regardless of how we obtain an income, we let it burn a hole in our pockets. Whether it is used to support a smoking addiction, put food in our mini-fridges, caffeinate us before morning classes, clothe us in this sea-son’s trends, or buy beer for the frat party tonight, our spending habits appeal to short-term goals: a Nicotine fix, a caffeine craving, a hunger pang, a fashion impulse, or the urge to throw a party. What we spend our money on is often discarded shortly after consumption.

Fashion is my favorite art form. Not only can it transform the individual wearing the garment, but the chosen materials, strategic design, and cultural context of a piece can often provoke a different reaction for each person. Constructing garments out of waste from our consumption demonstrates just how much we are actually discarding. I chose to construct garments out of post-con-sumer goods because I have a personal interest in recycled fashion. My senior year of high school I made my first dress out of discarded food packaging (see picture below), and I wanted to further explore this art. Since creating one piece was a weekend activity when I was 18 years old, this project was my personal semester challenge at age 22. On the next few pages you will see the six garments I crafted during my last semester of college. Each piece was made from materials that I collected from my own consumption as well as my friends, classmates, and professors.

Snack Attack

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College students heavily rely on foods that are easily accessi-ble and don’t require much cooking, i.e. snack foods, candy, soda, frozen pizzas, and Easy Mac. Once that hunger pang is satisfied the packaging is quickly discarded. The materials for this piece were collected after one week’s time.

The most significant change from initial sketch to final con-struction was the hemline of the skirt. What was originally going to be a more modest “poodle skirt” silhouette was changed to a more playful, structured, “flippy” skirt. I also was more selective with what materials were used as “polka dots.”

Materials- Bra top: cardboard candy packaging (Chips Ahoy, M&M’s, Mike & Ike’s, Sour Patch Kids, M&M’s Peanut), Nutrition Facts from various cardboard food packaging- Skirt: alternating panels of bubble wrap and fine metal mesh/screening, fine gauge metal jewelry wire for assembly, polka-dot cut outs from DiGiorno pizzas, Ritz crackers, Mike & Ike’s, Pop Tarts, Easy Mac, M&M’s, various plastic hum-mus lids, Coca Cola cans, Frito and Sun Chips bags, neon orange duct tape accent

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The tiered “fringe” skirt of the dress made me think of the roaring 20s. Granted, the overall silhouette of the dress is much more modern than the 1920s would have ever allowed, the detailing made me think of the Great Gatsby time period. Add the model’s retro curls and the skirt’s longer hemline, and The Great Bagsby was created.

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Before this dress I had never worked with plastic before, especially this thin of plastic. My initial sketch was a very simple design because I didn’t know how workable the material was going to be. The final piece is much more refined and developed. I changed the top entirely to fea-ture a sweetheart neckline, a halter top, “frill” detail down the front, an open back, and bags continuing down from the top to give the illusion of a dress, when this is really a skirt and a top (as opposed to the original one piece dress design). The skirt has a three tiers with clear bags acting as tulle on the bottom layer. I included a “braiding” detail along the back waistband to add an interesting focal point for the open-back design.

Materials- Top: Whole Foods produce bags, fine gauge jewelry wire for shaping, twist ties for back closure, duct tape for lining- Skirt: bubble wrap base, Whole Foods produce bags, generic no-name clear produce bags, duct tape for lin-ing, zipper for closure

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6

The idea for this silhouette came once I knew who would model it. With her fine curls brushed out, her slender frame made even more evident with this body hugging outfit, she reminded me of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City.

From initial sketch to final construction I omitted the fishtail hem. Instead of fighting with the material, I treated it as it’s used: a bag. I inserted drawstrings for both the waist and knees. I also did not adorn the skirt with nearly as many bottle caps/soda can tabs due to different mesh weights—finer netting would protect the model, wider netting would expose her skin to the harsh metal edges.

Materials- Top: cardboard beer packaging from various brands, hot glue, thick gauge metal jewelry wire for homemade hook and eye closure- Skirt: plastic mesh and netting from various types of pro-duce, beer bottle tops, soda can tops, shoelaces for draw-string closure at waist and knees, fine gauge jewelry wire to secure beer bottle tops to skirt

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Smokin’

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I had wanted to create a dress out of cigarette packs for quite some time. Marlboro was the specific brand I chose because the typography and packaging design remind me of classic, iconic advertising from the 1950s and ‘60s. That was the jumping off point for the silhouette: a curvy woman with a nod to the Mad Men era. The lightweight cardboard material provided enough structure to make it an angular, geometric piece.

The biggest changes from sketch to construction was the omission of an additional peplum and 3D hip “wings.” The whole dress was going to originally be out of just Marlboro 27 packs, but for more color I opted for a variety of different blends. I also changed the securement from a zipper to a lace-up corset style back.

Materials- Main: various Marlboro cigarette packs- Shape: additional cardboard, duct tape, hot glue- Corset: suede, metal screening to ensure the cardboard would not rip while lacing up

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Steeped in Color

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As a self proclaimed tea addict, this dress was constructed with over 200 paper tea packets from my own consumption. Only three brands were used: Tazo, Allegro, and Yogi.

The biggest changes that took place from initial sketch to final construction was the omission of the bow on the back and a change in neckline from sweetheart to square. No coffee filters were used for “frill.”

Materials- Base: fine metal screening, much like win-dow screens.- Dress: paper tea packets- Other: duct tape to protect model from sharp fraying, zipper for easy on/off

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Slave to Fashion

Photographed by James Paul

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Slave to Fashion was made as a commentary on the always changing trends of the season that women are “expected” to keep up with. Those who choose to be fashionistas are slaves to trends. Those who buy nice clothing are slaves to maintaining those luxury garments. Then there are those select people who are slaves to an online shopping addiction. The ever-present yearn-ing to look picture perfect and up-to-date has created a breed of women who spend far too much on a near-new wardrobe every season.

Materials- Harness: Cardboard insert for men’s dress shirt - Bra Top: Paper shopping bags, plastic from online shopping shipments, cardboard cosmetic packaging- Peplum: collaged fashion ads and editorial spreads (front), 12 Harper’s Bazaar covers - Skirt: 1 black trash bag as lining, clear cellophane from dry cleaning

This is the only piece that does not have an initial sketch. I created this piece for my own statement, as a former slave to fashion.

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The DesignerI hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my independent study from my last semester at American University. It has come a long way since the first concept in July 2012. Over the course of this semester I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people, from fellow students as models and photographers to USA Today editors and creatives.

A question I’ve gotten asked time and time again: “Are you a fashion student?” No, I’m not. I’ve had a strong interest in fashion since a young age. When I was 15 I took fashion design and contruction classes at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and have been sketching out designs ever since. Studying Public Communication and Marketing for my undergrad years did not offer many creative outlets, so I took the initiative to create my own independent study my last semester and do an overhaul.

Each photo you see grace these pages was a creation of mine. With all six models I acted as the hairstylist, makeup artist, stylist, and photographer (with the exception of Slave to Fashion, photographed by student filmmaker James Paul). I took the role as model for that shoot. Acting in a one-woman-show this semester was such an exhilarating feeling, allowing me to have full creative control for each garment from start to finish, construction to photo editing.

This semester I had the amazing opportunity to intern for USA Today magazines at Gannett headquarters in McLean, VA. Once I told the Managing Editor what my project was this semes-ter she insisted I pitch it to the staff during our brainstorm for Green Living magazine. You’ll see my feature in the magazine on the following pages.

Upon seeing the initial sketches people kept saying, “How do you think to use these materi-als that way?” I don’t really have an answer to that. I consistently thought about how a particular material would move, hug the body, and the difficulty it would present trying to make it into something it’s not intended for: clothing.

Going forward I hope that I have more opportunities to create statement pieces like these. It’s shocking to see some of these and realize that they were actually consumed by people. Smokin’ was the product of college students’ nicotine addiction, Steeped in Color was my tea addiction, and The Great Bagsby was from my weekly food shopping. We produce far more waste than we realize. I hope that this project makes people a bit more aware of their own consumption habits and insights for change.

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I had the opportunity to photograph The Great Bagsby dress in my local Whole Foods af-ter contacting the marketing manager, Meg McGarry. Upon arriving the morning of April 9,

the staff was so excited to have my model, Tya, and I. Meg informed us that they were going to include us on their so-cial media. Below are the posts from that day.

Exposure

@WFMTenley followers: 1,187

Retweeters’ followers: @AmericanU: 13,952 @spalinabean: 231 @julia_rhault: 165 @gretawhat: 589

Rough estimate of Impressions: 16,124

Whole Foods Market Tenley likes: 1,782 Share-ers: My friends: 897 Linda’s friends: 178 Gsis’s friends: 480 Tess’s friends: 528 Kathleen’s friends: (unseen due to privacy settings)

Rough estimate of Impressions: 3,865

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After meeting creative professional Mel Parrish one fateful SuperShuttle ride in December of 2012, she wanted to help me publicly display the dresses. All six recycled garments were shown at a small sustainable art show on Eartth Day, April 22, 2013. The show took place in Maga Design’s graphic design studio in Adams’ Morgan, DC. All proceeds benefited Create A Cure, an organiza-tion that allows artists to use their cre-ative gifts in support of cancer research.

Ticket sales: 12Actual event attendees: 45

Facebook event Going: 40 Maybe: 23 Invited: 237

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The art show was posted on the Washingtonian’s online event calendar. Washingtonian: 98,785 unique visitors in March 2013 (compete.com)

I posted these pictures to my own timeline as well as Maga Design’s page and the event page too.

My friends: 897 Maga Design page likes: 83 Event Fb invitees: 237

Rough estimate of total Impres-sions for art show: 100,047

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Beauty + Fashion

SKETC

HES, PH

OTO

S BY JU

LIA RH

AU

LT

The materials to make garments are all around us, even in the wastebasket. Julia Rhault, a student at American University and an intern at USA TODAY, created these stylish looks.

Tea packets were arranged by color.

I’m a self-proclaimed tea addict, drinking four to five cups a day. So the idea for this dress came naturally. Not only was this the inspiration for my project, but it was the most thought-provoking piece to create. Fashioning the girly design and ombre color gradient from tea packets required strategic planning and a true cranial workout.

TREASUREFROM TRASH

TEA PACKET DRESS:

"Steeped in Color"

Chicken wire formed

the base.

ABOUT JULIA’S PROJECT:This project sprouted from a personal observation: As a tea-drinker, I was tossing out large numbers of paper packets every day. I started collecting them, and by the end of the sum-mer I had almost a full gallon-size bag worth of wrappers in a rainbow of col-ors. I thought it would be fun to create a garment from this trash, and decided to pursue it as a senior project.

84 GREEN LIVING

GREEN MASTER 64-back.indd 84 3/15/13 3:50 PM

GREEN LIVINGPRINTED ON 90% RECYCLED PAPER

A TEA BAG DRESSMore Eco-Friendly Fashions

S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 3

& Hollywood’s Generation Green

Johnny Galecki

‘BIG BANG’S’

AMERICA

& Companies Saving the Planet& Companies

People & Companies 50

VISIT THE GREENEST SMALL TOWN IN

&

A TEA BAG DRESSMore Eco-Friendly FashionsEco-Friendly FashionsEco-Friendly &2

• Cars• Cleaners• Groceries• Home Décor

SHOP SMART

DISPLAY UNTIL JUNE 15, 2013DISPLAY UNTIL JUNE 15, 2013

GREEN_COVER_FINAL.indd 1 3/15/13 11:15 AM

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Overly emphasized bust, hips and waist

CARDBOARD& NETTING OUTFIT:

“Ultimate cocktail dress”

Packaging from several fl avors of

cigarettes brought a variety of colors

to the piece.

ModPodge glue was used

to assemble the dress and add

stiffness.

MARLBORO DRESS:

“Smokin’ ”

The netting was saved

from grocery purchases.

Cardboard boxes formed

the top.

Corsetted back

Marlboro’s typography and packaging is an iconic piece of advertising—and a nod to the 1950s. Women then emphasized hips and bust when dressing up, and I tried to replicate the style. Empty cigarette packs were easy to find on my college campus.

from grocery

For this piece, I collected cardboard packaging, bottle tops and soda can tabs. I also saved the plastic mesh from my produce. Combining the materials just seemed right. I used the cardboard to create the turtleneck crop top. The tabs and bottle tops were fashioned into a skirt.

Soda can tabs and

bottle tops alternate in the stripes.

85

GREEN MASTER 64-back.indd 85 3/15/13 3:51 PM

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Extras

Two dress ideas that never made it to production because I did not have enough materials and I refined the concept for a shopping dress to be Slave to Fashion.

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The Models (all photos are untouched)

Mathilde

Tya

Tanya

Farah

Kamala 21