In some cases, parents and students found their food waste had a second life. Taupo Intermediate School student Brooke Martin collected gold coffee pod wrappers from her caffeine-crazy parents, used for a stylish party frock designed by Brooke and fellow student Nicole Scott, which won the Come to the Party section. Others ate through bags of potato chips and lollies, and drank bottles of Coca-Cola to decorate their dresses.
Op shops around the Waikato, and beyond, were scoured by designer scavengers looking for ties, curtains, old jerseys and dresses – anything to create fantastic wearable art for the show.
There were so many amazing outfits, the judges had a hard time deciding the winners, with vigorous debate among the four of us, including Hamilton city councillor Angela O’Leary, Hamilton designer Vanessa Nieper (Nes), The Body Shop’s Barrie Thomas and myself.
The winner of the Avant-Garbage section, an autumn warrior designed from waste from the Hamilton Zoo, stood out – winning the Supreme Award of the evening.
Designed by first-time entrant Sacha Cumming, an educator and part-time zoo keeper, the piece had a powerful conservation message. “I wanted her to be a warrior for conservation,” said Cumming. “The zoo is really pushing hard with a conservation ethic and I wanted to show what amazing things can be recycled.”
The garment used two different types of sack for the sleeves and panels, sourced from a chimp’s enclosure. “Our chimp Suzie uses them as part of her bedding,” said Cumming. “Sacking is used for a whole range of things in the zoo. It is stuff that had already been donated to us, so had another life in this outfit.”
Feathers around the neckline and on the shoes were plucked from chickens, destined to be fed to the zoo’s two cheetahs. An obi belt around the waist was rescued from a reptile house undergoing renovation.
Model Kara Goddard also works at Hamilton Zoo as a keeper.
Organiser Maureen Soanes was excited by the garments presented at the Trash to Fashion Awards. “The standard of creations were once again outstanding,” she said. “I felt sorry for the judges. Every year it gets better and better.”
Apart from the designs, the evening was a great night out.
The show featured fantastic singing and dancing, directed and choreographed by Kerry Davis, who also designed the set. The Drury Land Dancers got the crowd going with their energetic moves, and there were a range of singers and musicians on stage.
Due to issues surrounding the trademarking of the name Trash to Fashion, the Hamilton event will have a new name and a new look from next year.
The Waitakere City Council, who trademarked the Trash to Fashion name in 2001, the same year as the Hamilton event began, is demanding local organisers work under their management, or change the name. “This needs to be a Waikato event,” says Soanes. “We are going to carry on as a Waikato show and come up with a snazzy new name. If people have any ideas, let us know.” See how new ideas make fashion and modelling industry boom.
