Eco-Fashion Show

We had our Fashion Show! On April 23, 2010 at VCU's the Compass. Thank you for everyone that helped make this event amazing! Special thanks to Green Unity, Perri M.AS.S. fx Young our DJ, Paige Campbell as our make-up artist and Susan Jones as our photographer.


Link for DJ: www.facebook.com/pages/MASS-Fx229107327727?ref=ts

Link for make-up artist: http://www.levisagestudio.com/

As the cornerstone event of VCU's Earth Day celebration, our research grant team remade clothing found in thrift stores into 5 outfits we wore at the show. Each of us had a style that suited different types of college students, hoping to appeal to a wide range of students to be inspired to recycle their clothes. The fashion show turned out to be better than we ever expected! Our posters, postcards and magnets finally came in and were ready to give out, our "green" runway made of donated sod arrived, and we had a great team of a talented make-up artist, DJ and photographer all there to make everything come together.

It was an exciting and successful event, and here are some pictures to show off:







Set Up

Lindsi: Urban Edge; Laurel: VCU Hipster
Meredith on the runway; Perri: DJ; Jennie: Flirty Femme

Hannah: Party Girl; Lindsi: Urban Edge; Meredith: Corporate Chic

Our Eco-Fashion Team; Team with Ms. Guthrie (our advisor)

Stay tuned! :) We still have three more outfits to make for Fall 2010, along with other visits to Virginia campuses.

-VCU Undergraduate Eco-Fashion Team

In The Process

Progress report of our eco-fashion awareness campaign:

So we are about half way done with our outfits and advertising materials! We can't believe it is almost April. Our fashion show is in one month!!!

Here is what we started out with, our beloved mood board for inspiration and direction :)


At the beginning we went around to local thrift shops and goodwill to get some used clothes, fabrics and materials. Here are some pictures of us shopping for pre-worn clothes!
















And then our fabrics and clothes laid out before cut up, torn and completely altered:















And now everything is is progress!

We also did our carbon footprint. There's an easy test at EarthLab.com and it takes about 5-7 minutes, asking questions such as how often you travel, what type of car do you use, what temperature do you keep your place at, and many other things to help you realize how much your carbon footprint is in this world, and what little things you can do that adds up to make a big difference. For example, washing your clothes in just cold water instead of warm or hot saves energy, and your clothes are just as clean!!

Our team scores are: ECP / CARBON
Lindsi Bellomo (Communication Arts) 252 / 7.3
Meredith Janos (Fashion Design) 280 / 9.8
Jennie Onisk (Fashion Design) 352 / 14.2
Laurel Rodriguez (Fashion Design) 256 / 8.0
Hannah Wray (Fashion Merchandising) 295 / 11.3

Our goal is to reduce our own personal score by the end of the year! See what yours is at EarthLab.com and compare with your state averages and even country averages.

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As for the Richmond readers interested in finding some awesome pre-worn clothes and fabrics to either alter or just wear, I have a list of great thrift stores in the area.
Let me tell you something awesome: When I went to goodwill, I found a brand new petite small Talbots sweater with the original tag still on for 5 dollars!!! Take a Saturday and just visit some of these places you will not regret it.

FANTASTIC THRIFT
Great variety of art, furniture and of course clothes!! This is probably my favorite thrift store because it is so large and cheap with such a variety. I also loved looking at the vintage jewelry here. :D

1914 West Main St
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 358-7164

DIVERSITY THRIFT
This one is a little bit farther away from VCU campus, but also has a variety of furniture, clothes and even books! Even has some great artwork as well.

1407 Sherwood Avenue
Richmond, VA 23220-1004
(804) 353-8890

CLEMENTINE
This is located in Carytown and offers female clothing in designer-brand chic style. Although it is a small shop, do not let its size fool you, it is worth going to!

3118 West Cary Street
Richmond, VA 23221-3504
(804) 358-2357

EXILE
This thrift shop is located on Grace Street with a lot of great costume style/vintage clothing. Even if you don't feel like spending much money on already worn clothes this is a great place to just browse the neat little knick-knacks and other cultural fun items.

935 West Grace Street
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 358-3348

GOODWILL
Of course this is a must-go to place. I recently went here and got my new Talbots sweater for $5, along with 3 belts for just a couple of bucks.

8018 West Broad Street
Richmond VA
(804) 565-6780

6202 W Broad St, Richmond VA
(804) 230-4935


So here you go! Go one Saturday afternoon and be surprised.
Check back soon for more on our progress!

Undergraduate Student Research Grant 2010: The Beginning!

Project Title: Eco-Fashion; Re-fashioning the Future

Lindsi Bellomo: Communication Arts
Meredith Janos: Fashion Design
Jennie Onisk: Fashion Design
Laurel Rodriguez: Fashion Design
Hannah Wray: Fashion Merchandising

Amount Received: $1570; Amount requested: $3182.00

Fashion is one of the largest global industries. Unfortunately, fashion is also a very pollutive industry. In September 2009, the junior fashion design students traveled to New York City. During our trip, we had the opportunity to see the NOW Showcase featuring some of today’s sustainable fashion by independent designers. This inspired us to find a way to push forward sustainable thinking about fashion. The market is saturated with cheap, fast fashion, and our aim is to promote the ecological purchasing and consumption of fashion, especially among millennials. We plan to create our own line of sustainable fashion made from previously worn garments and eco-fabrics. We will also create educational and marketing materials.

According to Connie Ulasewicz,
"The ideas of fashion sustainability and eco-chic need to move from the fringes to the mainstream, and to do that, they must be skillfully marketed before they will shift people's perceptions and behaviors."

Research will be conducted to determine what information will best inform this group of consumers and we will develop 2D and 3D marketing tools to promote the understanding and appreciation of eco-fashion. We will travel to universities around the state wearing our re-created garments and distributing information. Finally, we hope to present our collection at a conference!

We believe it is our responsibility as emerging designers to shift our thinking, share our knowledge, and put our talents to work to ensure that the apparel industry and eco-fashion can do much more to support a healthy environment.


BUDGET:
We have budgeted $500.00 for fabric, previously worn garments, and notions to make eight garments for a collection. For marketing and educational supplies we have $382.00 estimated for 2,500 postcards and 1,000 magnets with 3 posters. The total gas cost to get to ten universities around Virginia Commonwealth University is $300.00 round trip. We also hope to send two members of our team to an international conference. For airfare and lodging we have $1000.00 per person budgeted. For our proposed budget this is a grand total of $3182.00.


GOAL:
By April 22, the day before Earth Day, we plan to have a fantastic fashion show in the heart of VCU sponsored by The Year of the Environment! Here will be the day to show off our eight wonderful outfits, share our research, answer questions and of course handout our freebies! This will be an exciting event so stick it in your calendar. It is scheduled to be between Cabell Library and Schaffer Court Dining Center from noon- two o'clock in the afternoon!!

For the next two months, I will be documenting our progress, posting up our process, putting up photographs & designs and just getting everyone hyped up for our Eco-Chic Fashion Show of 2010. See you there!