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On the runway: baby food jars and paper bags

by Elaine Jeon ’17 

Amherst students gathered in the Powerhouse on a spring evening for the College’s first Trash to Fashion Show. Su Ghosh ’16, a member of the Green Amherst Project, organized the event as a way to celebrate Earth Day and raise awareness about excess waste on campus. Kyndall Ashe ’18 wore a paper bag to the fashion show. To complete the ensemble, she added book covers and blue painter’s tape. “With straightened hair, some red lipstick and red pumps, I felt ready to walk the runway,” she says.

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For Ashe, designer Lindy Labriola ’17 combined the raw materials to create a strapless minidress. “Being in a fashion show,” Ashe says, “was sort of a longterm dream of mine.” The event challenged student designers to use postconsumer materials to create outfits for student models. Megan Adamo ’17 stormed the runway in a dress made from empty baby food containers. “Though this type of event is outside of my comfort zone,” she admits, “my roommate is very artsy so I knew it would be fun for her to create an outfit for me.”