Trashion Fashion
120+ min
Ages 8+
What Will You Learn?
It is sad, but the fashion industry is the number two polluter of our environment. We don’t want to add to the problem so we encourage using fabric remnants, thrifted clothing and upcycled items in our runway pieces. For this project we are going to the reduce, reuse, recycle fashion extreme. Campers are going to design and create fashion tech pieces from materials that would normally be thrown away. This piece could be accessories, footwear, jewelry or a full outfit.
Put fashion tech skills into a runway ready piece that tells a personal story but also a story about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
About This Adventure
Today, fashion designers are not limited to fabrics in their designs. Technology has become part of our story and is much more accessible. Young designers can use tech such as lights, sensors, and microcontrollers to tell their stories.
In this adventure, you will experience and experiment as we go through the MakeFashion Edu process to support campers as they:
learn – about the elements of fashion and circuits
design – a story and the wearable
construct – a fashion tech piece using recyclable materials and lights
exhibit – be seen! Our favorite medium is the runway.
You will be able to support your designers as they find their voices and tell their own stories through fashion pieces they create and share.
This adventure is divided into several sections, each with its own projects. The bolded project denotes the page you are on. The arrows mark the section you are in.
The Process
Remind designers (or design teams) that many of these materials are great diffusers, so along with the elements of fashions, they should take advantage of the diffusion properties in their pieces to tell their story.
Maybe the Crazy Headwear could be part of the Fashion Trashion piece.
What story do you want to tell about recycling? Why is it important to you? Write it down.
Use croquis to make several sketches. Use Design Notes to help ideate.
Integrate a circuit to elevate the story with lights.
Gather materials from around the house that would normally be thrown away. Do any of these materials give you more ideas?
Decide on the design to construct.
Start making, adjusting, redoing and persisting as needed, until your piece becomes what you envisioned!
Celebrate and show it off!
Use a design process that works for you to help get your ideas into the physical world. If you want an example of a design process, you can click into the next lecture where James will guide you through a process we use with the young designers.
Inspiration
Victoria
For my first trashion piece I decided to go with a purse. I was able to design and construct it quickly, so I decided to do another.
Ellington
I wear glasses so stylish frames are important to me. I have a jar full of pop tops so I decided to use them to make these fashion trashion shades!
Rebeca
I love color and newspaper adds are very colorful, so my mom helped me make a dress from nothing but ads and scotch tape. It is hard to see but my fairy light touch circuit goes around the waist and a simple circuit is on the flower.
Jaydin
Sheriff Boxy wants to bring law and order to Tucson! He is made mostly out of cardboard boxes, but there are other trash items also. A paperclip switch completes the circuit to make the LED light up.
About MakeFashion
MakeFashion Edu is an international non-profit working to promote learning through fashion and tech. Through hosting workshops, reach-out and push-in activities, and larger events, MakeFashion Edu sees providing access for young designers to go to industry and project-based learning as one way to pull local communities together.
SteamHead makerspace is a network of people, spaces, and events who collaborate to improve equity in education as the path forward. We believe that by embracing design thinking and a maker-mindset, education can be more engaging and meaningful, and with that more effective in preparing students for success. Check their website for their courses.
Materials:
- Anything that can be reused such as plastic grocery bags, trash bags, plastic bottles, wrappers, foil, cardboard, newspaper, scratch paper, paper bags, old t-shirts, toy parts, etc.
- Cutting tools: scissors, clippers, exacto knives or cardboard cutters may be needed depending upon the materials used
- Adhesives: hot glue, glue, tape, sticky tack or connectors like staples, string or rubber bands or fusing plastic.
- Lights: Copper tape/LEDs, touch circuit fairy lights or even just a battery and LED can work. Other lights can be used as well.
