The design and model participants of the Manatee County Library Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show pose for a group picture at the Central Library in downtown Bradenton on April 6.
MELISSA MATISKO/MANATEE COUNTY PHOTO
Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show hits the runway for the sixth year
By CARL MARIO NUDI
The excitement and passion at the Manatee County Central Library on April 6 in downtown Bradenton felt a lot like Paris or Milan during fashion week.
Models worked it on the runway, flanked by an audience of about 100 people, snapping photos as a heavy beat of pop music thumped over the speakers, and the emcee described the designs of the haute couture on display.
It was the sixth annual Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show, which brings students from all around the county together to showcase their creativity and skill in designing clothes, made with reused or repurposed material.
The first-place winners of the Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show, Karla Ortiz, 14, co-designer, left; Amy Phung, 13, co-designer and model; and Angie Marroquin, 13, designer of the purse, show off their trophy. The team also received a sewing machine, event sponsor Keep Manatee Beautiful provided.
“It’s a big event for them,” said Glenda Lammers, library services manager for the county system. “It’s nice for the students to walk the runway and have this experience.
“We feel this is a way to harness the creativity of all the students who participate,” Lammers added.
Parrish resident Emerline Constant, 16, was participating for the third year.
“I learned about the fashion show as a freshman,” said the South College of Florida Collegiate School junior. “My art teacher thought I’d be interested in it because I always enjoy designing, and I’m creative.
“I learned a lot from the last two years’ experience because I think I know what the judges are looking for and what has worked and what hasn’t,” explained Constant.
And her hard work and planning paid off, as her design placed second in a field of eleven entries.
First-place winners were Amy Phung, 13, a designer and model; Karla Ortiz, 14, also a designer; and Angie Marroquin, 13, who designed and created the purse accessory.
The top of the winning design was made from ironed plastic bags with CDs for the trim and braided plastic bags for lace. The skirt was reversible and made with black shopping bags on the outside and orange scrap bubble wrap on the inside. VHS tape was used for the waistband. The shoes were made of cardboard, with detachable heels made from old moisturizer bottles, and gum wrappers were used for the trim. The purse was constructed of magazine pages and beads.
Dress designer Emerline Constant, second from left, poses with her family and friend at the Sixth Annual Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show on April 6 at the Central Library in downtown Bradenton. From the left are her sister, Erline Constant; Emerline; her father, Felder Constant; her mother, Ermite Constant; and her friend, Amara Bailey, who is modeling her creation.
All three first-place winners take theater and world history teacher Starloe Galletta’s class at Electa Lee Magnet Middle School; Galletta turned the event into a class project.
“They get to use their creativity,” Galletta explained. “And they do the work without me giving them all the details.
“I think the kids did wonderful,” she said, after the winners were announced. “I’m so proud of them.”
Constant, also, was proud that her design came in second.
“I was so excited and grateful,” she said, after hearing the results. “I guess my hard work paid off.”
She added that before the show began, she had watched YouTube videos and read magazines to do the research for her design.
“I got some ideas when I went shopping for my prom dress,” she said. “I wanted it to be short and stylish, and fresh but also long and more formal and elegant.
“I wanted to incorporate both ideas (into the design) this year.”
Chris O’Hara, youth services coordinator for the Manatee County Public Library System, left, and Librarian Chris Culp at the Braden River Library branch, co-direct the annual Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show event.
The base of her dress is made of rice bags.
“My family is Haitian, so we eat a lot of rice,” she told the judges during her runway interview. “That’s where the bags come in.”
The skirt was lined with grocery bags, and plastic dry cleaning bags were attached to the skirt to create volume and length for a high-low effect.
The top used CDs for decoration, and the handbag was made from an old CD holder and crocheted grocery bags. The shoes were made of cardboard.
“When I was younger, I made clothes for my dolls, but learning to work with recycled material is much harder,” Constant said.
Her friend, Amara Bailey, modeled her creation.
“We’ve been friends for a very long time and she just asked me, and I said, of course,” said Bailey, who also is a junior at State College of Florida Colligate School.
“This is my first time modeling for the recycling fashion show,” said the 17 year old who lives in the same Aberdeen neighborhood in Parrish as Constant, “but I modeled one time for an Elle boutique show.”
The library fashion event offered a creative outlet for both young women, who plan to pursue careers in other fields; Constant’s future plans include the medical field, and Bailey wants to go into marketing.
Parrish resident Emerline Constant, 16, right, explains her dress design, being modeled by her friend, Amara Bailey, to the judges of the Sixth Annual Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show on April 6 at the Manatee County Central Library in downtown Bradenton.
CARL MARIO NUDI PHOTOS
The Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show was the brainchild of Braden River Librarian Chris Culp.
“We loved to watch the TV show, Project Runway, and thought, how cool,” Culp said.
In that show the contestant designers are given various materials to make their designs.
“I wanted to do a fashion show in the library but thought we’d do it with recycles,” Culp said. “And when I went to an exhibit at SCF (South College of Florida) of recycled fashions by well-known designers, I thought that’s what we’ll do.
“We started six years ago, and it’s grown every year,” she said.
Culp and Librarian Chris O’Hara, youth program coordinator for the county library system, are co-directors of the event.
The two of them also wangle help from librarians from all of the branches and from other volunteers to make the fashion show a success.
Librarian Rachel Suntop did the wall decorations, made from woven recycled bottles, and librarian assistants, Sierra Snyder and Bryan Sawyer, worked on the stage decorations and chandeliers, all made form recycled materials.
Brandy Harlan, left, of Mary Kay cosmetics, applies makeup to Kali Kamiya, who is modeling a dress her sister, Kea Kamiya, designed for the Sixth Annual Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show on April 6. This is the sixth year Harlan has volunteered to get the models ready for their runway performance.
And for the sixth year, Jyna Johnson, program director for the county library system, was the MC for the fashion show.
“I’m responsible for getting the show on the road and announcing the contestants,” Johnson said. “I talk about their designs, what they are made of, and who the contestants are.
“I introduce the judges and people who make the show possible,” she said. “I just keep the show moving.”
The three judges this year were Georgina Willmott, a designer at Nina’s Notions; Emme Greer, with Feld Entertainment, Inc.; and Lisa Berger, director of Art Center Sarasota.
Keep Manatee Beautiful has been a major sponsor for six years and donated the prizes again this year.
“This event is about educating the younger generation not only about recycling but [also] repurposing,” said Jennifer Hoffman, executive director of Keep Manatee Beautiful. “Reuse and repurpose is the message going forward, and this event is that message personified.
Katie Allen, left, and Kristy Villegas, both students of the Manatee Technical Institute Evening Cosmetology class, style the hair of Stephanie Butscher, a model in the Sixth Annual Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show on April 6. Cosmetology instructor Nicole Yancey said MTI students have volunteered for the event for all six years.
“It’s exciting to see how creative and inventive the children can be in this community,” Hoffman said.
Cosmetology students from the evening class at Manatee Technical College provided hair styling, and Brandy Harlan, a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, provided makeup artists to help the contestants.
And Culp even drafted her son, Nicholas Culp, of DJ City Beat, to provide the music.
For more information about the Manatee County Library and the Recycled Dreams Teen Fashion Show, check out the website at www.mymanatee.org.
