With each event year and venue change (this is our 4th venue in 11 shows) what happens behind the scenes has to be flexible and shift to fit. Rubbish Renewed thrives with skilled volunteers and sponsors who create hidden magic in the greenroom. Coordinated by a humble talent, Mayra Stearns, “frames” are created with makeup and hair styling that illuminate the inspirational trash fashion on the runway.
High school senior Elliana Bowers getting illuminated. Photo: Joe Kline
Mayra manages the action in a way that sets a comfortable tone supporting even the most nervous young models. She also generates a team of volunteer makeup artists who balance the feel of the garment with enhancing for stage presence. And since 2014,Bishops in Bend has honored us by bringing a team of professional stylists who whip up hair that highlights the flair of each piece. It’s fast and furious fashion at its best in the Rubbish Renewed greenroom!
Bishops stylists whipping up hair! Photos: Rylee Courtois
Mayra Stearns making magic, Rubbish Renewed 2016. Archive Photos: Paula Bullwinkel
Devon Lizza discovered the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show through her mom’s friend’s daughter, when she was a high school student at Bend High, and never looked back! Now, a second-year student in the architecture program at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Devon has designed another spectacular piece transforming trash into an eye dazzling color experience!
What inspires your creations?
2019 Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion ShowMaterials: K-cups, plastic Bags, old bike tire
2018 Gum Wrappers
I have to say color. I think that color is just an inspiration in itself as it’s the one true way to bring life to something. When I start looking at garbage it’s always the color I am drawn to first followed by how to alter it into something unrecognizable. This sorta flows into the process for me as I want the end look to be nothing like what it’s made out of. I’ve designed with gum wrappers, chocolate wrappers, and kediri cups in the past and I always know I’ve done it right when people continually ask me “what on earth is this made of”.
How do you connect to the Rubbish Renewed mission – transforming trash and inspiring community for a sustainable earth?
Being a lifelong Oregonian and a student at UO with a sustainably focused architecture program, it goes to show I love this event for more than just the sheer ingenuity it spurs but also the mission and message behind it. I believe in sustainability being the future of the world’s success and that people can contribute to this themselves. I myself am a vegetarian and an avid thrifter, one because I love the things and secondly after I found out that those two things are single handedly the most environmentally positive impactful an individual person can do.
What is one thing you want to share with aspiring trash fashion designers?
Materials for this years creation!
My advice to aspiring designers is to just keep things interesting and design trashion garments with things you would least expect. Sometimes I have a little game in my head walking around that I challenge myself to imagine what type of clothes can be made from whatever odd trinkets and garbage I see. Keep people guessing what things are made of and ALWAYS keep a lookout for some color.
Come see Devon’s newest creation along with 45 other incredible garments created by student and adult community designers at the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, on May 20th at the Pavilion!
It’s that time of year in the Rubbish Renewed calendar to get inspired to design and construct! Rubbish Renewed is calling all creatives to find the inherent beauty in the trash around you. Delve into its unique characteristics: Is it stiff? Does it flow? Does it create volume on its own? How can it be attached? Discover the essence of the material and see the form emerge.
Things that are stiff and can create and maintain shape:
Things that are soft and can be sewn or woven:
Things that are small and can be cut up and tied, tacked, or glued:
Things that are small that can be rolled into beads or used whole and tied together:
THE REINCARNATION OF EARLY 20TH CENTURY WOOL COATS
My great uncle made braided rugs during the Great Depression and World War 2. Living in Roundup Montana, the winters were long and cold. He gathered worn out woolen coats and scraps from family and neighbors, and spent hours deconstructing garments, stripping fabric, and manipulating the newly formed strips into braids. This rubbish renewed process was normal during those lean times, making use of material that was finished from its original purpose, into something new and enduring. I grew up with Uncle Albert’s brightly colored, patterned rugs. One he made in later years still covers the floor of my childhood home, strong and seemingly unworn.
The rug that was in my aunt’s basement apartment, for as long as I remember, was an early version. When Betty passed, we discarded and distributed dozens of items. A few we kept. The rug, riddled with holes, was something to save for a later date. That time has arrived.
I transported the giant rug, weighing somewhere around 70lbs, back to Bend. Dragging it into my living room, like a body bag (luckily my partner was out of town), it was too big to unfold in my tiny Old Bend home. I left it in quarters and unlaced the braids, years of embedded debris falling free into the air and carpet (I donned a mask). Then the real work began.
I think unbraiding takes as long as braiding. The strands tangle and it’s necessary to cut out overly worn parts before separating the kinky quadra-folded strands into colors. The fabric unfolds in the process of washing each color group on the hand wash cycle in my front loader.
Now a ball of snarled fabric I untangle again, iron the lengths, and hang them to dry. The outside of the fabric is exceedingly worn even in areas without holes every inch. For now, I’ve rolled them up into spools by color and weight.
My next process is to cut the strands apart at the seams and remove those areas too perforated with holes. I’ll resew the bias cuts together with the insides now the face. My goal is to create a new coat, some parts re-braided and others sewn. I’ll keep you posted as my process continues on the reincarnation of an early 20th century wool coat.
Get inspired by the waste around you, and send us your material manipulation inspiration! What will you create for the May 20th, 2023 Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show!
Rubbish Renewed has developed into a showcase for talented community artists. Many designers submit year after year inspired to up their game in sustainability, material manipulation, and style each event. Pieces tell a variety of stories like the challenges of medical waste, excessive packaging from our mail order and coffee on-the-go obsessions, and how to transform discards into truly wearable art.
We’re back!Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, one of the most forward thinking, eco-friendly, fundraising events to witness, is on track for a Spring Event. It did take another year, but this Rubbish Renewed Revival gives us the opportunity to refresh and re-imagine for the best show ever!
Photo: SHE Photography
With a Spring event on the horizon, I’ve started to gather materials and put my ideas down on paper. What about you?
There is a lot of work ahead to ready this event, but we are on our way!
Next week look for the 2020 Show Galleries with mesmerizing photos by Jazmine Turner Photography and SHE Photography.
After the nearly 2-year plunge into the pandemic, we are finally coming up for air and reviving Rubbish Renewed!
Student designers/models – unaware of life changes ahead. Photo: Jazmine Turner Photography
The pandemic seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly life drastically changed. As teachers, we had to rethink, redesign, readjust, and renew our commitment to students in a completely new environment. The first balls dropped were the things not immediately in front of us. Rubbish Renewed fell into the pandemic abyss.
Now, somewhat adjusted to our new normal, it’s time to reacquaint ourselves with the Rubbish Renewed mission and inflate the balls that we dropped after the 10th annual Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show!
Scraps from old dress, upholstery project, old pillow sham, aunt’s closet . . .
During the pandemic many of us included in our lives the essence of the Rubbish Renewed tagline – transforming trash, inspiring community for a sustainable earth! Discarded scraps of fabric became one of the most common community connectors. Ordinary people created masks for family, friends and colleagues, out of those little pieces of fabric they just couldn’t throw away. My sister, a Rubbish Renewed designer from the past 2 shows, lives in Belgium. She made more than 200 masks to give to family, friends, and neighbors. And that’s a tiny amount compared to some.
Anticipate mesmerizing photos by Jazmine Turner Photography and SHE Photography from the 2020 show that share the 10th annual and look ahead to Rubbish Renewed Revival!
I spend most of the evening behind the curtain. I get to feel the nerves of the young models before they take their first step, sending them onto the runway. And about a minute later, I get to experience their exhilaration when they step behind the curtain again. My favorite moment Saturday night was when 4th grade designer/model, Laila, supported each nervous model (students and adults alike) behind her, “it’s like a roller coaster. Before you go, you are so nervous, and once you are out there, it’s awesome!”
Thank you Bend for embracing the mission of the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, “transforming trash, inspiring community for a sustainable earth,” and making our community such a great place to live!
For our 10th year and our 9th Business Challenge we have 8 local businesses competing for the 2020 Rubbish Renewed’s Coveted Trash Trophy! Each year a group of businesses come together to celebrate sustainability, support REALMS education, and have some … Continue reading →
SHE Photography’s Suzette Hibble, and Jazmine Turner Photography’s Mindy J. Turner are back for the 2020 Show! We are thrilled to have them capture once again, the spirit of the event, with their crisp exposures and stunning compositions that showcase the designs in action.
Blog posts and galleries highlighting the 2019 show feature images by these two talented photographers. Peruse the galleries and build your excitement for Saturday’s 10th Rubbish Renewed event! Get your tickets today!
Photo: Jazmine Turner Photography
Photo: SHE Photography
Photo on the left by Jazmine Turner Photography; On the right by She photography
Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show 