Skip to content

Students to strut fashionable art projects

MBSS art students preparing for fifth annual Trashion Fashion Show at the Tamarack Centre on April 23.
20044cranbrookdailytrashion_show_advancerweb
The 5th Annual Trashion Fashion show is fast approaching on Thursday

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure.

However, in spite of the name, it's a little unkind to refer to the fashionable creations of high school students as trash.

The fifth annual Trashion Fashion Show is set for Thursday, April 23 at the Tamarack Centre, with the first creations hitting the runway at 7:30 p.m.

Don't be fooled by the word Trashion however, as the students are working with recyclable material to make a statement in more than just the fashionable sense.

"We think of them more as wearable sculpture than we do as much as outfits," said Cheryl Wilkinson, who teaches Art Foundation at Mount Baker Secondary School. "We really emphasize not just the design and paying attention to the human body, but in creating an interesting piece of art, too.

"Some students decide to make artistic statements as well. There's a statement in itself in using what we have in the environment; you don't have to buy new.

They sometimes feel passionate about something else and they'll communicate that through their wares as well."

The show, which is billed as performance art, is roughly 30 minutes long with students largely modelling their own work. Carter Gulseth, who has MC'd the past three years, will reprise his role for the last time before he graduates.

The students will be wearing their own pieces, but other students from middle or elementary schools have also participated in the past, Wilkinson added.

"The students largely model their own work—we really encourage that," said Wilkinson. "It's more interesting, we don't need to look like models.

"We are artists and want to look like artists."

Not to give away the surprise of the student's work, but some of the materials used in the fashions include grocery bags and VHS tape. One student, who made a children's dress out of used dryer sheets, expanded her project to create a bridal dress.

Wilkinson adds that the students take pride in their work.

"They have come to expect it and I would say look forward to it," she said. "…Some spend the duration of the year that are recyclable or not used any longer in their life and they'll collect it in the means that it would make an interesting sculpted outfit."

 



Trevor Crawley

About the Author: Trevor Crawley

Trevor Crawley has been a reporter with the Cranbrook Townsman and Black Press in various roles since 2011.
Read more