By Becca Carlson
Models sashayed across the stage of the Hagler Auditorium sporting the Cosmetology department’s best recycled materials creations. Nearly 60 Pensacola State College students delighted audiences with their designs on November 11th, 2016.
Students from Pensacola, Milton and Century Center campuses participated in this year’s Fall Fashion Show. Trash bags, toilet paper rolls, fans and feathers are just some of the materials that were on display. Some students confessed to bringing their concepts together in just one day while others spent countless hours perfecting their outfits.
Raven Stanton, a student designer, discussed her concept as her model posed for photos. “She’s a post-apocalyptic warrior. It’s inspiration from Fallout and Borderlands (Video Games),” said Stanton. “I made this soda tab corset— it took over 20 hours to make it. I got a nerf gun and repurposed it, then put a bunch of circuitry and wires on it.”
Other students used items found around their own home. Shelby Risch found her husband’s habits became her resource. “I used some water bottles that I cut down all the way so they are curly spirals. I used some bubble wrap and some grocery bags. I spray painted them a gold and a chrome color, and they are like a tail,” said Risch. “My husband likes to drink a lot of water, so, I thank him for staying hydrated.”
Overall, Cosmetology Coordinator and Instructor Kim Markwick says she is impressed by the student’s creations.“I think it went wonderfully,” said Markwick. “The students really stepped outside of the box.” Markwick also said that many of the students kept their designs a secret until the day of the show.
Kayla Epstein found her inspiration right in front of her eyes. “Well, I made it out of Coke boxes, Coke cans and some duct tape,” said Epstein. “We were just sitting down thinking about our project with a Coke in our hands and were like, hmm— Coke cans.”
Other participants looked to nature as their muse. “I collected fall leaves, and I spray painted them gold. I attached them to the chest and made a crown,” said Lindsey Saccomanno of her design. “It’s all real leaves. It’s all natural.”
Rebecca Spivey only had to look in her own closet for materials. “It’s a recycled prom dress,” said Spivey. She also incorporated a leopard face paint motif and used a medieval inspired hairdo in her design.
Catherine Dowd knew exactly where she would find her inspiration. “I really like comic books. All of us really like comic books, so we kind of just played off of that,” said Dowd. “Purple, pink and blue happen to be the most prominent colors in the comics we had.”
To accomplish the task on time, some teams split their design duties such as Vanessa Sturms and Leah Kea. “[Kea] mainly did most of the work on the dress. She did the origami which is made out of cardboard paper,” said Sturms. “The headpiece, I made. It’s made out of sticks. [The head piece] actually took me three months to do.”
All of the hard work paid off for these Cosmetology students.
