Clothes show recycling is in fashion
Colin McDonald
San Antonio Express-News
Apr 23, 2009
The models waited in the salad-dressing aisle in handmade strapless dresses, skirts and a suit. The bright greens, blues and purples of their outfits blended with the food labels that surrounded them.
It was appropriate, because the clothes were made from the shopping bags customers had used to carry those items and the banners that advertised them.
“Fashion has become too elitist,” said Julia Romney, a student in the fashion management department of the University of the Incarnate Word. “This reinforced where I wanted to go with my work.”
Wednesday, on Earth Day, Whole Foods Market hosted an “eco fashion show” with clothes made by students like Romney from banners and returned shopping bags the store had collected. The bags are made of 80 percent recycled plastic and sold to customers instead of the thin, disposable plastic bags most stores give.
The ensembles will be on display for a silent auction that will end with the store's closing at 9 p.m. Sunday. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas to help develop community gardens.
Links between the world of fashion and environmental ethics are becoming more common, said Christian Cunningham, who came to see the clothes. Cunningham is a production coordinator with 1080, a local studio that is developing a show about sustainable fashion for television.
Cunningham said she sees a connection between people's outer beauty and how close they live to their values. Those values, she said, are then reflected in the purchases they make.
And Cunningham wants the dress made by student Monique Solis.
“First of all I just thought it was cute,” she said. “But the whole show was for a good cause and representing Earth Day. I like the idea that there is meaning behind what you are wearing.”
But there was already competition for the strapless, princess-seamed bodice and tiered skirt with large pleats. Maria Jose Quintanilla, who modeled the dress, wants it too.
“It's a fun party dress,” she said. “Kind of flirty.”
The top of the dress is made from blue and green woven shopping bags and the skirt from the purple banner that advertised the store's Valentine's Day tulip and rose sale.
Quintanilla, a business major who volunteers to model at charity fashion shows, knows no one else will have the dress and likes the idea that wherever she wears it, she will be making a statement about the importance of recycling while looking good.
“That's what makes it so cool,” she said. “It's two completely different industries coming together. And at the end of the day you know the banners are not being thrown away.”