On April 26 in Talley Student Union, eight art and design majors will showcase their fashion and costume collections to students, faculty and members of the Raleigh community at the Art2Wear show.
This year, the theme of the runway show is “circulatory,” which focuses on and brings awareness to sustainability in the fashion industry.
According to Tess Wiegmann, a third-year studying graphic design and the co-director of Art2Wear, the student team started planning the event during summer 2018. In addition, the designers of Art2Wear have been planning and creating garments since fall 2018.
Sara Bailey, a fourth-year in design studies and designer in Art2Wear, said it is important to be mindful of the impact clothing can have on the environment and how to reuse materials.
“T-shirts just get thrown away after they are used, but there’s nothing wrong with them; people are just tired of them,” Bailey said. “It is important to have a way to transform them into something else.”
Similar to Bailey, Emerson Burkhardt, a third-year studying art and design and a designer in Art2Wear, emphasized the importance of upcycling and reusing clothing.
“One of the most impactful things I have learned here is that a good percentage of the clothes you donate to Goodwill when you don’t want them anymore are just thrown away,” Burkhardt said. “Some people just don’t want them, so it’s important to find ways to reuse those items that nobody wants anymore.”
For her collection, Bailey upcycled all of her pieces and used 100% cotton knit.
“Most of my garments are made out of T-shirts and some bed sheets,” Bailey said. “All of my pieces are transformable with drawstrings.”
On the other hand, Burkhardt drew inspiration from plastic straws and the recent controversy surrounding their use.
“I was very interested in the plastic straw issue, how people were saying you shouldn’t use plastic straws because they don’t biodegrade, so I wanted to make garments out of those,” Burkhardt said. “All of my garments are transparent, and I wanted to find a second purpose for a one-use item.”
Students who want to be involved with Art2Wear do not need to be art and design majors, but the majority of the designers are, Wiegmann said. However, many other students in different majors participate in the event through graphic design, photography, exhibition and fundraising.
In addition to student volunteers, invited guests, like Oami Powers and Aly Khalifa from Designbox, Erica Porter, a Raleigh event planner, and Pamela Jennings, a professor and head of the Department of Art + Design, have helped students coordinate the event throughout the year.
During a meeting with Art + Design students earlier in the semester, Jennings said that Art2Wear costs the College of Design about $35,000.
“This year, we are lucky because a corporation that came and saw it and loved it so much gave us money last year to cover the bill,” Jennings said in the meeting. “Now we have money from them this year, not to cover the whole thing but to cover most of it, a substantial amount.”
According to Jennings, Art2Wear does accumulate ticket money, which is put into an account for later use.
In addition, the Art2Wear fund provides a small amount of money for each designer to help cover the costs of their collection. However, the rest is paid out of pocket by the designers, Powers said via email.
“This year, we got $200, but that does not cover a lot,” Bailey said. “We have to buy everything, like materials, fabric, thread and any fasteners, shoes, accessories. Everything is coming from us.”
Burkhardt said that she used the $200 from Art2Wear on shoes alone. She also said that some designers have spent over $1,000 of their own money on collections this year.
In order to see the designers’ collections, Wiegmann encourages students to attend the free dress rehearsal on Friday, April 26, at 3 p.m. in Talley Student Union.
“The dress rehearsal is free to any student with an NC State ID,” Wiegmann said. “Then there is another show at 7:30 p.m., which is paid. You can buy tickets online at ticket central or in person at the will call office before the show.”
Wiegmann said that Art2Wear is a unique opportunity for those in the College of Design to showcase the work they have been completing all year.
“Last year was the biggest show we had,” Wiegmann said. “We are just hoping we can grow every year.”
Students who are interested in learning more about Art2Wear, can visit their website.
