Designer Peggy Black seriously dislikes plastic water bottles, a message she conveyed with her entry at Earth Day’s Trashy but Flashy Fashion Show.
“I don’t know why people use them,” she said.
Her entry called Bottle Mania was awarded the Best Craftsmanship prize by a panel of judges.
The outfit is made from 50 water bottles she bought at a recycling depot for $2.50. Black also used a repurposed bed sheet and several garbage bags that were cut into strips and sewn together. It also included a lot of staples and glue and took about a week to make.
“To me it started looking like a dress from the sixties because it has daisies on it which are made of bottle bottoms,” said Black. “It was an organic process of design, figuring out what looks good. You start with an idea, you play with fabric, you see how things fit together and that’s how it goes.”
Black’s friend and model for the event Ann Kamp sported the dress along with earrings made from plastic bottles.
The annual fashion show was hosted by Wildsight Elk Valley. It featured 10 outfits made entirely out of recyclable or reused materials.
Other notable outfits included Kai Deydey’s, who won the Fastest On Their Feet award with his outfit called Paper Robot. Sonna Qualizza took home the Most Modern award with an outfit called The Lucky Penny. Her sister Haley Qualizza won the Most Recycled award with a dress made almost entirely out of bubble wrap. Then there was the Rose Flour Wedding Gown, sponsored by Big Bang Bagels, which was named Most Trashy.