Duct tape meets design: Colorado State University exhibit features recycled fashions

Note to Reporters: Photos are available at http://col.st/J5HUG.

The splendor of fashion and using recycled materials in unique ways inspired design and merchandising students in a new exhibit in the Gustafson Gallery at Colorado State University.

The designs featured in Recycled Design Elements: An Exhibition of Undergraduate Ingenuity were created by students in the CSU chapter of Fashion Group International, working in conjunction with first-year students in the Design Foundation for Apparel and Merchandising course in the Department of Design and Merchandising.

Inspiration for the design work came from current fashion trends, creatively using materials for purposes that differed from their original intent, and from upcycling materials from previously existing clothing. The designs were created from a variety of materials, including microbrew beer cans, packaging from computer hardware, maps and the ubiquitous black plastic lawn and leaf bag.

The exhibit explores the elements and principles of design within the context of a wearable garment structure. Students in the Design Foundation course are not required to know how to assemble a garment using traditional sewn techniques. The garments instead represent creative strategies to employ duct tape, staples and hot glue to mold materials from flat two-dimensional shapes to volumetric three-dimensional forms for the human body. The results shown in the gallery are striking examples of creative ingenuity.

The exhibit will be open until April 15 at the Gustafson Gallery in room 318 of the Gifford Building at 502 West Lake St., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. Admission is free.

The Gustafson Gallery is under the umbrella of the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising, part of the Department of Design and Merchandising in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Colorado State University.

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