Category Archives: Trash Fashion
PROJECT RUNWAY USES REAL REFUSE FOR ONCE
Project Runway is known for it’s unconventional challenge. Each season, on at least one episode, show designers run to retrieve something unfabric-like, sponsored by some corporation or another. Although unconventional, the objects are new material that is re-envisioned into fashion. Designers use base fabric and hot glue to construct something unique. However amazing, this is not Trash Fashion. (Read our last post “Organic Matter isn’t Rubbish”).
This season, episode 7, used real refuse for once! “The designers go dumpster diving for recycled electronics in order to merge the worlds of fashion and technology.” Although they still use muslin (new material – not allowed in Rubbish Renewed) for base fabric and many use hot glue to assemble the garment, the concept hits the mark. See how these designers manipulate materials, using the innate qualities to push the fashion forward!
How will you stretch your use of materials this season?
PHOTO SHOOT SNEAK PEAK
Thursday, December 18th, Rubbish Renewed gathered 15 garments at Tambi Lane Photography for our pre-show photo shoot. We invited Business Challenge participants, live auction item designers, and had a lottery of students for our final few spots. 2 of our 10 Business Challenge garments came, and 7 of 9 auction items. We filled the final spots with a lottery selection of completed student submissions. Thank you Bishops Barbershop for the exquisite hair, Kimberly Harwood for the makeup glow and Tambi Lane Photography, our Rubbish Renewed official photographer, for your masterful vision and photo execution! Here is a sneak peak of what is to come at the show on Thursday, January 15th.
AUCTION GARMENTS – Click on the photo to link to the auction garments
BUSINESS CHALLENGE – Click on the photo to link to the Business Challenge
STUDENT GARMENTS – Click on the photo to link to the student garments
RR Student Designers in Action
Friday I captured this time-lapse in the REALMS Rubbish Renewed Elective. Look closely in this 30 second video to see 5 different students using these 2 sewing machines to complete garments! Check out their quotes below to see what a few students learned while creating garments to submit to the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show.
I learned:
- How to use a sewing machine.
- When something falls apart, cry for a minute, then get back up and keep working.
- To see shapes differently. I can make 2-D pieces fit 3-D people.
- That good design takes time.
- How to go from nothing into something.
- Fashion can be sustainable.
- To really look at materials to see what they can become.
- That through my actions, I can make a difference for the earth.
(Sewing machines were purchased 2 years ago from Rubbish Renewed fundraising proceeds. All 6th graders now have a chance to learn to use a sewing machine)!
It’s going to be a spectacular show!
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Behind the Scene Designer Series: Artist 4 – Paula Bullwinkel
When Paula Bullwinkel, our 4th Behind the Scene Designer, isn’t designing couture trash fashion, she works as an artist and art instructor at COCC. I’m always blown away by the strong lines that flow through Paula’s designs. She get’s the human form, and from this, transforms the materials into an extension of the wearer. Here’s a peak into Paula’s process of transforming trash and inspiring community for a more sustainable earth.
(link to 1st of the series) (link to 2nd of the series) (link to 3rd of the series)
Artist 4 – Paula Bullwinkel
RR: How did you get started as a trash fashion designer?
PB: I found extra stuff around my house and I like to imagine something new out of something old or mundane.
RR: What inspires your creations?
PB: I’m inspired by Japanese couture from 1980’s and 1990’s, and 1950’s party dresses.
RR: What is one thing you want to say to all the aspiring young designers?
PB: Art can be wearable.
RR: What is your current goal as a Trash Fashion Designer?
PB: I would like to find some really unusual materials in a junk or thrift shop to make something nobody has seen before. I would like to construct something huge and gorgeous.
There’s no question in my mind that Paula Bullwinkel will “construct something huge and gorgeous” for this year’s Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show. Come out and get a glimpse on Thursday, January 15th.
Tickets on sale December 15th. Purchase online at rubbishrenewed.com through eventbrite, at REALMS Charter School in Bend (63175 OB Riley Road), or at Wabi Sabi (downtown Bend / 830 NW Wall St).
“What one action can I take to lower my impact on the planet?”
First Friday, Community Garment Creation
44,000
The number of miles of new ribbon (more than enough to wrap around the planet – and tie a decorative bow, of course) that shoppers wouldn’t have to buy if every family in the country reused just two feet of trimmings from previous years. To keep the ribbon of Christmases past from getting creased, wrap them around a paper towel tube and secure with masking tape.
The Rubbish Renewed Community Garment offers a place to take a personal step towards walking more lightly on the planet. What will you do to generate less waste? Consume less? Ask yourself, “What one action can I take to lower my impact on the planet?” Make a pledge. Start today.
You can help create the 2014/15 Community Garment at the Rubbish Renewed table at December’s First Friday (December 5th) at Hot Box Betty, (903 NW Wall St). Write your pledge for action directly on the tin can lids. Your pledge along with all the pledges collected in Bend will be featured prominently on the 2014 Community Garment at the January 15th Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show at The Bend Armory. Rubbish Renewed Community Garment 2014/5 By the Bend Community That’s YOU!

2013/14 Community Garment
Materials: Bicycle Tubes, Minty Blaster holes (a manufacturing by-product)
At First Friday also witness the first Rubbish Renewed past trash fashion live wax museum. Learn how some artists are inspired to lessen their waste by reconsidering the value of trash and transforming rubbish into wearable art.
Behind the Scene Designer Series: Artist 3 – N Spekktor
Our third artist in the Behind the Scene Designer Series, N Spekktor, has participated in Rubbish Renewed every year since 2010. N Spekktor is one of the few Rubbish Renewed artists who works as a fashion designer, in real life, outside of her passion for trash fashion. Each year she’s produced a spectacular piece for our 21 and older show. Last year N Spekktor generously donated her piece, Bags to Ballroom, for our live auction. We can’t wait to see what N Spekktor has in store for this year’s event that is transforming trash and inspiring community for a more sustainable earth.
(link to 1st post of the series) (link to 2nd post of the series)
Artist 3 – N Spekktor
RR: What do you do in real life when you’re not designing and creating trash fashion?
N Spekktor: I’m a Fashion/Graphic Designer, Event Coordinator, and Co-Producer of Beat Lab 92.9 FM. Over the past year I have traveled throughout the west coast showcasing my first ever swimsuit line and taking on collaborative projects with other designers such as Burning Artist Collective in Reno, NV.
RR: What hooked you on our Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show event?
N Spekktor: I heard about this wonderful show from a friend and loved the cause. Not only do I get to play a part in Eco Fashion, but I get to support an amazing school.
RR: What inspires your creations?
N Spekktor: Each year I have created a different look using a variety of materials. This year I will be collaborating with a local business to create something that has never been on the Rubbish Renewed Runway.
RR: What is one thing you want to say to all the aspiring young designers?
N Spekktor: No matter how much they bully you or try to hold you back, please remember only you know what you are truly capable of. Don’t ever let anyone stop you. I did it and so can you.
The 5th annual Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show welcomes N Spekktor into the Business Challenge competition as the designer for Stringsoil garment this season! Thanks N Spekktor for your dedication to sustainability through your creative fashion vision. We can’t wait to see what you pull out of the midden.
Student Designers at the heart of Rubbish Renewed – Gallery Posted

Designer: Ashlie Jackson
Materials: vhs tape & discarded cash register tape cores
Quote: “Through the many challenges of the design process I have learned perseverance.”
Rubbish Renewed started as a brainchild of two REALMS teachers. It makes sense then, that student designers are the heart of this event. For these young designers, Rubbish Renewed starts months before the show. It’s a time of creativity, determination and grit. The Rubbish Renewed tagline declares: transforming trash and inspiring community for a more sustainable earth, so inspiring students to rethink waste and learn life skills like perseverance is the perfect indicator of success for Rubbish Renewed. Here are a few quotes from last year’s talented student designers:
“I learned that trash is never gone, but with some creativity we can make magic happen!” Olivia Rose Barnes
“I really had to think outside the box, because finding useful trash materials is harder than using store bought materials.” Jessica Browning
“I learned that it is harder to make a dress for a person then for a doll.” Lilah Beck
“Inspiration can be found in almost anything, and once you find it anything can become something beautiful.” Soleil Haskell
“Through the many challenges of the design process I have learned perseverance.” Ashlie Jackson
“Creating is like a house of cards. It might fall down at first, but then you rethink it a second time.” Sydney Scott
“Through constructing my garment I learned that to create something you find beautiful you must mind meld with those who see its potential.” Isabella Robles
“Trash fashion can be just as cute as store bought clothes, plus it saves our planet.” Joanna Browning
“Turning garbage into fashion is like a bud turning into a rose, it may look like nothing at first, but it will blossom into something beautiful.” Denali Heinlen
Check out the new Runway 2014 Student Designer gallery posted today! Runway photos by Tambi Lane Photography.
2 Weeks Until Runway Submission Deadline

Artist sketch by designer Allison Murphy of the dress she designed for Tambi Lane Photography Studio as part of the 2014 Business Challenge














