Melissa Burgess/Staff Writer
Recycling w
ill once again turn into a fashion statement with FIU’s School of Architecture’s third annual Eco-Couture Recycling Fashion Show.
The free show will be held on March 31 at the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture Building Courtyard at 7 p.m.
Amira Ajlouni, FIU’s architecture alumna and the founder of the Eco-Couture Recycling Fashion show along with the help of her event partner, Jennifer Luis, a current architecture graduate student at FIU, are organizing the fashion show.
“We want this fashion show to inspire people and see recycled materials in a different light and see discarded materials as something that can be used for in a lot of different ways,” says Ajlouni.
The competition was created with the purpose of promoting sustainability through fashion and strives to educate and inspire the community about good recycling habits plus how to live an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
All FIU students are eligible to submit their outfit drawings. Once the designs are picked, the designers are able to recreate their ideas into actual clothes, which will be displayed by models on a runway.
Each outfit is judged on innovation, beauty, craftsmanship and recycled material.
The panel of judges include Rene Ruiz, designer of Rene Ruiz Couture and Dr. Constance Silver, acclaimed psychoanalyst, social worker and artist.
The fashion show will also award scholarships to the winners. First place will receive $1,000, second place will receive $500 and third place will receive $250.
This year’s runway is expected to showcase more than 50 outfits, all of which must follow two rules: the outfits must be made of recyclable items and must be reusable.
“It’s awesome seeing contestants from all different types of majors whether it’s architecture, medicine or law coming together and being apart of this fashion show and creating outfits,” said event partner Jennifer Luis.
“I’m always impressed by the outfits. Every year we always see something beautiful and interesting. One of my favorites was one of the third place winners from the 2014 show, where there was a dress made of black cable ties woven together. The students’ works are always well designed and the materials are unique and the way they use them are innovative,” says Ajlouni.
The first place winners last year were students Susana Alonso and Adrienne Canter. The concept of their dress was composed of pop tabs, stretchy cord and cable ties. They put them together through two different weaving techniques.
“Each year, I look forward to the fashion show. It’s another element of the FIU School of Architecture that enlivens the experience of being a student at FIU. I’m especially excited to see new ideas in the more than 50 outfits we plan to showcase this year,” said Juan Brizuela, a mass communications graduate student.
Eco-Couture started in spring 2014. Ajlouni says that the fashion show was her thesis project that gained a lot of popularity and drew in a large audience. Through the collaborative effort of FIU’s School of Architecture and university student volunteers to arrange this one of a kind recycled fashion show competition, it has became an annual tradition.
Ajlouni hopes that this event will inspire people to integrate environmental sustainability into their lifestyles.
“We want people to come and leave with a message. We want people to go home and question the materials you use on a daily basis and think of a new way to use it,” said Ajlouni. “This is the best free event you’ll ever go to.”
[Image from Flickr]
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