Friday, November 30, 2012

Project Runway Ain't Got Nothin on Us

Special treat for you today...straight from my classroom!

I'm teaching Fashion Merchandising this fall, on a 4x4 block, which translates to 1 semester of class delivered in 9 weeks! (i.e. I'm locked in a room with the darlings for 90 minutes each day.  90 MINUTES WITH 27 TEENAGE GIRLS.  That explains alot, huh?   Nah, they're all really sweet and most of the time they're not giving me the eye glare of doom.)

It helps they still think I'm fashionable.  Lord help me when they figure out how old I really am.

The week before Thanksgiving, they had a project to practice their understanding of the elements & principles of design, and basic garment shapes (straight, a-line, bouffant, bustle, etc.)  I like to call it Trashy Fashion, and it was inspired by the Season 6 episode of Project Runway, where they created fashions from newspaper:


In essence, each group has two days to design a garment and accessory from newspapers, packing tape, and any recyclable materials they bring from home.  On the 3rd day, we have a little fashion show and then they get to parade through a few classrooms of willing teachers. (We've never been invited through the math hall. I have no idea why.) 

This year's fashions may be the best bunch ever!  They're amazing!  Group shot (heads chopped off for obvious reasons):


And some closer detail shots of the dresses!  The hot pink on this dress is recycled Forever21 bags:


Some of the little trims I allowed because these girls are master negotiators.  Their argument was..."but it's leftover from a previous project, so technically it could be considered trash".  Um, OK. Pickin my battles, daily.  And that's not one of them! haha!


There was so much detail on this next one, I wish I had taken closeup shots of each little piece.  It was incredible!!


Yes, this is a boy, and his girlfriend is in the class.  She insisted he be the model for their group.  He was cracking me up in his runway walk.  By far the best runway model!  The dress is beautiful. It has an intricate woven/pieced bodice that this photo doesn't do justice to.  And the fanned ruffle placement on the skirt?  So well thought out.


 The colors on this dress come from recycled color copy paper.  I love the pops of color!
 

The zebra duct tape snuck in under the radar of "is this allowed".  She was taped into that dress pretty darn fast, on the principle of "ask for forgiveness later".  haha!  It really is cute.


Pretty cool, huh?  Keep in mind, they had roughly 3 hours to make the garment (and an accessory), and they're "fitting" real people, not rail thin models or a perfectly proportioned dressform.  (well, for the most part.  Of course they're little things, they're teen girls!)

In any case, I'd say the PR folks should be paying attention. We're gunning for them.

TGIF everyone!!

17 comments:

  1. Angie, those are amazing. How fun for the girls.

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  2. How fun! Wish there had been something like that when I was in school--many, many decades ago, when you made an apron in Home-Ec.

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  3. Your class puts me to shame... These are amazing! So much talent in the class. Just love it!

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  4. This is so cool! I wish my high school had offered something like this! :)

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  5. those dresses are fantastic and considering the materials they have outdone the project runway people by a mile.

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  6. Angie - this is so much fun! Thanks so much for sharing. I kinda want to take a vacation to Oklahoma to take your class. Wonderful paper dresses. How cool is the boyfriend that he would actually model. g

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  7. your chiquitas (and their sneaky ways) are utterly AMAZING.

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  8. whoot! Fashion Students FTW! No way would we ever have done somethign that cool in high school. Of course, I'm as elderly as you are. -ahem- possibly slightly more elderly.

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  9. Your students are sooooo creative...kudos to them and you...

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  10. Absolutely amazing!!! I would love to be in your class. I'm sure it is so much fun!

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  11. Your girls did a marvelous job!

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  12. Your students did excellent work!

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  14. Thank you thank you everyone! The girls loved this project, it's always a fun one!

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  15. What a wonderful project to do with your students! You're a great teacher!

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  17. Anonymous2:35 PM

    So. Freakin. Cool.

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