Cornell students paint a fashion runway green
Colorful and creative couture that’s friendly to the environment can be haute, haute, haute.
At the Ecouture 2018 environmental fashion show April 14 at Duffield Hall – organized by Martha Williams ’20 and the Cornell Environmental Cooperative – dozens of student models and designers unveiled the latest verdant vogue.
Dakotah Tanczuk ’19 wore a Samantha Kirsch ’18 original, a top and skirt made from bags of Dirty Sriracha & Honey kettle-style potato chip bags. Emma Birch ‘20 wore a Kirsch-made jumper made from woven newspaper and Alicia O’Neal ’18 donned a dress made from chip bags and woven newspaper.
“I came up with the designs based on my models’ personalities,” said Kirsch, a fiber science and apparel design management major. “I enjoy reimagining how things that would typically just be thrown away could be used, so designing this collection was tons of fun and really allowed my creative juices to flow.”
Tasha Lewis, assistant professor of fiber science and apparel design, and Claudine DeSola and Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs, co-founders of LIVARI, zero-waste womenswear made ethically in New York, provided encouragement and remarks.
Other designers in the fashion show also bid adieu to polyester and rayon. Margot Shumaker ’19 designed a delicious Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream container dress worn by Emma Ramsden ’19. Annie Fu and Kate Wang created a dress from broken compact discs worn by Sosonia Ma ’21. And Jessica Biggott ’20 devised a dress from plastic bags, worn by Rachel Stein '18.
