Studio: Deconstruct/Reconstruct Sustainability Project

For studio class this semester we had to create a sustainable garment out of vintage or second hand garments. The goal was to use 100% of the materials to create an upcycled clothing piece. As I hate the crunchy patchwork style that is commonly associated with reconstructing second-hand clothing I knew I needed to do something that directly spoke to my own aesthetic. This led me to conceptualizing the idea of using unsustainable fabrics to design fetishwear! The fabrics used to create fetishwear are typically quite bad for the environment and the idea of 'sustainability'.

Over 33 million of tons of PVC is produced annually and it emits toxic compounds from manufacture to disposal. The shiny lovely durability it boasts is unfortunately also its downfall-> It is not biodegradable or degradable, which means all the PVC that gets dumped in landfills either just sits there for decades.. Or it is burned and releases toxic fumes like hydrogren chloride gas and dioxin :/ I knew I wanted to use PVC garments for this project for just this reason.

My first order of business was to find some interesting PVC material and I immediately thought of children's raincoats. They had fun patterns and didn't have excessive amounts of material or lining! I picked up three coats and opted for this Mickey Mouse version because it reminded me of my childhood adventures in Disneyland :) From there I also knew I wanted to make a corset so I found a kilt in my closet that I didn't mind parting with that would work for the lining.

It was a huge amount of work but I was very happy with what I produced. I started with 651.5 grams of fabric from my garments which included the weights of all extra embellishments that were needed, such as the boning and eyelets. And *drumroll* I ended up being able to use 100% of the original garments! I even saved the thread from the original constructions.. I swear, there was method to my madness! lol The fruits of my labor are posted below. I constructed an underbust corset, Minnie ears, a pair of spats, a purse, and a little neck tie :)

The construction process was VERY long and painstaking and contains many pictures! For this reason, I'm not posting it directly here. If you'd like to read more about my adventures click below!

The Long Awaited Epic Blog Post of Jurassic Park on the Silver Stage! Pt. 3 - Trannysaurus Rex

Our amazing director Alex Woodside stepped forward last minute to fill the shoes of the Drag T-Rex or as I fondly refer to her, Trannysaurus Rex. This involved a wide range of acrobatics, screaming and general molestation and he pulled it off immaculately! I don't have photos of all the costume pieces for this unfortunately but I do have some great shots of him in action!


I wanted to do something different for the Rex head because scale wise, compared to the Raptors it would have been quite larger. Instead of trying to do the obvious and just scale things up, I decided on a totally different route and made a Rex Fascinator, or little hat to sit on top of the head that had a thin elastic band to keep it on around the neck. Then I made a neck corset out of red faux leather and added a row of teeth on the top of it. Additionally, the costume had a white elastic harness like the other dinosaurs. Unfortunately I don't have any detailed shots of the collar or harness but you can see how it looks in the live shots.

Some shots of the live show and full costume:

The Long Awaited Epic Blog Post of Jurassic Park on the Silver Stage! Pt. 2 - Dilophosaurus

The Dilophosaurus costume was challenging but much fun as I had decided to additionally interpret the neck ruff that expands when the dinosaur is ready to attack its prey and spit poison in the movie. Instead of spitting poison, our lovely Kim blew bubbles at Dennis Nedry:)

Before sewing everything, I screened the fabric by hand.The dual crests on the top of the head were padded so they were more three dimensional. I pregathered red tulle and contoured it around the eye folds. Again with the back of the hood neck, I added in elastic in order to keep the head more securely positioned.

The elastic harness had a boned collar that I did similar to a neck corset. It was attached to the harness shoulders and could be pulled upright during attacks and left down the rest of the time.

Here are some live shots of the Dilophosaurus in action on the stage: