PHOTOS BY: Kimberly Teichrow Photography (more photos for purchase), Joe Kline (more photos for purchase), Stark Photography (more photos for purchase), Melissa Barnes Dholakia, and Greg Maffei

Click on a photo to enlarge and for photographer credit

“POOL PARTY” Designer/Model: Qristy Kurtz Materials: Made from a plastic/vinyl backyard pool and standard thread Garment Description: Pool Party is a commentary on water conservation. Swim in the Deschutes instead! Made from a leaky backyard pool that may have collapsed and flooded more than once, Pool Party hopes to inspire consumer consideration of the quantity and sources of the water you use! – Auction Item!

“KITCHEN SINK” Designer: Madie Loebig Model: Lydia Harms Materials: Sleeping pad, produce mesh, produce bags clear, mailers, second hand tule, bottle caps, broken string lights, twist ties Garment Description: My inspiration for this piece was the waste I personally acquire through my life. I collected bits and pieces of trash that I created with no true theme, ultimately landing on the name kitchen sink, made of odds and ends like my favorite cookie. My piece is connected to Rubbish Renewed’s mission because it shows you don’t need an elaborate plan or collection of trash to create something magical, from 100% garbage! I hope to inspire others to redefine what is seen as trash & maybe instead see the base for a new creative project. – Auction Item!

“MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK” Designer: Karen Holm Model: Mira Vishnevska Materials: Worn out gardening and welding gloves, fragments of weed barrier mesh, worn out pack towel, salvaged leather strips, grommets. Garment Description: Fashioned in the spirit of “gardening builds community”, Many Hands Make Light Work, was built with the worn, work gloves of the designer’s family and friends. The array of tool pockets, ample hand pockets, adjustable side panels, and comfy knee pads, make this festive frock glide easily from digging in the dirt to the evening after party at the Plot. – Auction Item!

“GARDEN PARTY” Designer: DeeDee Johnson Model: Robin Cooper Engle Materials: washed and dyed fitness club wipes, tin cans, fabric and leather scraps, last year‘s calendars, magazines, junk mail, old yoga mat, broken chandelier parts, umbrella from the trash bin, buttons and beads. Garment Description: Robin, Robin quite extraordinary, how does your garden grow? With fabric scraps and leather flaps and flowers around the row. Reminiscent of her past designs, designer, DeeDee Johnson, has included flowers made from washed and dyed fitness club wipes, tin cans, fabric and leather scraps, last year‘s calendars, and an old yoga mat. The dress is completed using broken chandelier parts, buttons and beads. The sun umbrella was salvaged from the trash bin and contains twilled flowers from recycled, magazines, and junk mail. Auction Item!

COMMUNITY GARMENT – INTERTWINED Designers: Bend Community, Realms HS students and Rubbish Renewed Council Model: Ian White (REALMS Teacher) Materials: twined wool from an old braided rug and a classroom map headed for the trash bin Garment Description: Each year we ask members of our community to be a part of what hits the runway through our community garment. We asked you to write your pledge to help the environment on each part and then wove them into what you see today. Made from twined wool from an old braided rug and a classroom map headed for the trash bin, we remind ourselves of our connection to each other and the world with this year’s piece, “Intertwined”.

“BEN’S BACKPACK 2.0” Designer: Meg Knight Model: Ben Knight Materials: 2 old broken backpacks and one duffle bag, old tee-shirts (lining) black thread. Garment Description: Back in the day, these old school back packs and duffle bag journeyed with Ben on travel study at Realms. They’d lived a life and were destined for the trash bin. But now, they’ve been refashioned and can see Ben on to his next journey in life as a traveler’s jacket complete with plenty of pockets and storage. He is on his way in Ben’s Backpack 2.0!

“HEXXUS” Designer/Model: Danielle Aldrich Materials: Old curtains and scrap fabrics along with the slip and holiday decor. Garment Description: This dress was inspired by Mother Nature. There’s nothing sexier than our plants and forests. This garden garment was constructed of old Holiday decor, broken jewelry, and an old dress.

“STIHL IN FASHION” Designer/Model: Grace Robin Materials: Retired chainsaw chaps. Garment Description: Working in conservation is all about being a caretaker of the natural world, making the disposal of damaged chainsaw chaps stand out to me as a waste. Due to safety concerns, chaps must be retired once sufficiently damaged, and in many cases cannot be repaired. This led me to imagine a second, stylish life for these pairs of PPE. One with a different but just as important way of aiding our environment, inspiration.

“PATCHWORK N’ SEA” Designer/Model: Melissa Fatland Materials: His and hers jeans- with blown out cabooses, bikini with failed elastic, single use plastic packaging, food packaging from tamale bags, quilt fabric scraps,  and a thrifted zipper. Garment Description: Two tones of denim paired with a turquoise bikini and tiny quilt scraps bring awareness to your next work or beach day. This garment was inspired to highlight the cost of convenience from online shopping where single use plastic bags reign. Destroyed jeans and a ruined bikini were patched with their replacement’s packaging to showcase how the land and seas are burdened with disposal. Consumers may save time shopping online but carry a train of non-reusable plastic in their fashion wake.

“BOOK BOUND” Designer: Kat Tomsic Model: Rubye Fangmeier Materials: 90% Book Binding materials (faux leather), 5% reused fabric for lining, 5% reclaimed buttons. Garment Description: Book publishers use sample/swatch books to help in the book design process. Each year companies that make the materials for book covers send them samples of what is available. Then authors and designers can look through and feel the materials they want to choose. As with everything, when the year ends and those materials are no longer ‘in style’ or available – they throw away the sample books. I made a mini skirt and shirt vest out of the old sample books that were going to go in the trash!

“A PROPER BAG LADY” Designer: Lloyd McMullen Model: Mikayla Gil Materials: Net peanut and produce bags, upcycled thread. Garment Description: This piece was inspired by Amity Creek student, Sam Press’ entry last year using net and mesh bags. As I cannot seem to throw anything that seems useful away, these bags jumped out in search of a party. Thus was born A Proper Bag Lady!

“LUNA MOTHS AND MOSS TAKING OVER MY MIND” Designer/Model: Noelani Anderson Materials: Plastic: juice cartons, caps, packaging from shipping, bubble wrap, broken jewelry, flowers. Old: stained skirt, pants, dress, stained t-shirt, cut up flannel shirt, sweaters previously cut up stained jacket. Scrap: tulle from an old kids dress, fabric from Halloween costume, stained jacket, Pendleton dyed wool, embroidery thread, vintage patches. Garment Description: This year’s outfit is inspired by lunar moths, moss, lichen, and fungi. Textile and packaging waste are some of the biggest contributors to landfill waste, which can make its way into our waterways. So I aimed to make something that repurposed plastic packaging and old textiles. I wanted to create something inspired by how humans and nature can coexist and grow together, which is symbolized by the moss and plant life taking over the garment.

“INTRAVENOUS SEAMSTRESS” Designer/Model: Katie Valentine Materials: Intravenous vial caps, paper gown, face masks. Garment Description: This garment is made almost entirely of items used to prepare intravenous medication. A new paper gown is used every time the clean room is entered. The plastic caps are from the tops of liquid medication. Our model is an inpatient hospital pharmacist and has been saving these caps for years after becoming inspired by another Rubbish Renewed similar design made from K cups!

“RUBBISH ROMANTICISM” Designer: Martha Campbell Model: Rona Campbell Materials: discarded tents, external frame backpack, EZ up carrying case, and discarded running shoes. Garment Description: The romantic era of the early 1800’s emphasized the imaginative, the visionary, and the transcendental. Inspired by the decadence and drama of romantic era gowns, this rubbish garment imagines new life for materials otherwise destined for the landfill, allowing them to transcend their original purpose. By celebrating these materials through fashion, we envision a more sustainable future.

“M & M : MENUS AND MAGAZINES” Designer/Model: Devon Lizza Materials: Discarded menus (main construction of garment), magazines (pop of color), aluminum can tabs (embellish and corset), used drink tickets (hidden base for support), old plastic bags (base that everything it attached to), old shoelaces (lacing in the back). Garment Description: Inspired by the sheer variety of texture, color, thickness, and types of paper products present in magazines and restaurant menus, this garment allows for viewers to take into account how much paper waste is prevalent in food and publishing industries. The manipulation of materials is intended to make it indiscernible for viewers to pinpoint what the dress is made from. Menus were collected, cut into slivers capitalizing on the warm buttery background color rather than the words, and then applied to the plastic bag/drink ticket base to create a ‘tree bark’ effect providing visual interest and texture. The pops of color in the dress come from magazines which were sorted and organized by color, meticulously hole punched, and then applied to the dress with tweezers. As an individual incredibly passionate about sustainability, creativity, and design, this garment showcases how we can give paper products a new life and take an everyday object and make it into something extraordinary.

“SIGNS OF THE TIMES” Designer: Karen Holm Model: Claire Brislin Materials: Presidential campaign yard signs: 2008 Obama signs, 2024 Harris signs and banner, jewelry jump rings. Garment Description: Woven from the fabric of a time when “Yes We Can” electrified the nation, this look proves that hope isn’t disposable, it’s renewable. The base dress made of reclaimed Obama signs and originally designed for THE classiest first lady we’ve ever had, this piece walks the line between memory and momentum. Reminding us that progress is never out of style. In an era where fascist vibes are being peddled like fast fashion, the jacket claws back with unapologetic ferocity and says, “no thanks, we’ve seen better threads.” This piece is not wistful nostalgia, it’s resistance in repurposed form.