Once Rubbish Renewed sneaked onto the Bend scene in 2010, our first 3 years premiered at the Century Center. They provided the perfect venue – huge open space, a modular stage and few rules. We had our own bar provided by Plum & Boneyard, a cozy marketplace as you walked in, and moody lighting.
Year 1: there was 1 runway show with a total of 23 garments (compared to 57 split into 2 shows for 2020), and one designer made 5 of them! Diverse materials, from the launch of fused plastic as fashion, to beanie babies turned into a faux fur coat, graced the runway.
Year 2: our first Business Challenge garments battled it out on the runway from ReStore, Wabi Sabi, Cuppa Yo, The Horned Hand, Utilitu Sew and the Environmental Center. Cuppa Yo won the 1st coveted trash trophy designed by, now 4 time winning designer, Panambi Elliott! Skillfully manipulated materials from bicycle tubes and slides, to a kiddy pool and Capri Sun containers raised the runway bar. And we added a 2nd show!
Year 3: On the runway were 19 student designers up from 9 the year before! 2 of the Business Challenge entries were made by 2 of our talented students. And bags dominated the material cache: plastic and canvas grocery bags, dog food, ramen, paella, and coffee bags.
Check out last year’s posts on the Birth of Rubbish Renewed: Part 1 & Part 2, to get the background on our start.
