In my senior year capstone course for my minor, Practicing Sustainability, the class participated in a sustainable fashion show at the end of the year, presented by The Virginia Tech Office of Sustainability. The show consisted of student designers from any background, showing designs in three categories: handmade design, thrifted styling, and locally sourced styling and design. Our class split into four groups, and created four fun and unique designs! If you didn't get a chance to read my page explaining my minor, I was super excited for this project. I was one of two fashion students receiving this minor, and there was not much discussion I was previously knowledgable about throughout the minor until preparing for this show. I was able to share my knowledge of design and creativity to a room of students that had never thought twice about fashion, or its legitimacy for that matter. 

      For my group, I wanted to create a concept that allowed all levels of creative skill to participate. So we all discussed what we should do and came up with an amazing concept. We agreed we wanted this project to be made of readily available materials. I explained how we could use paper bags, plastic bags, soda can tabs, and some fabric I already had that was perfect for this assignment. So, I went ahead and created a paper bag dress fit to the specs of our lovely model, and I was to lead my team members on its decoration. The following class, we all brought in our hoards of plastic bags, and I showed them how they could be cut into loops, and by using Hercules knots, could be fastened into long, flowing tentacles. We used a hot glue gun for all of the fastening of tulle, can tabs, and plastic bags to the paper bodice, and a velcro strip at the center back to easily wear the piece. This was an incredibly fun project, and we won most creative design at the show. I am incredibly proud of my team as well. Towards the end of this project, I broke my hand, and as you can see in the photos, I have a splint of sorts. I worked on this project, my own fashion show, and went to class with a broken hand for 12 days. In hindsight, I have no idea how I had the stamina to go around Blacksburg and get things done and show up everyday while I waited to have surgery. But I really did not want to let my team down, I knew they would need a little guidance on finishing the project, most importantly how to work the hot glue gun, and I didn't want my hand to get in the way of a project we worked hard towards.