After creating a gown made of old aprons and colorful wiring in just five days, Brandon Barrera’s design was ready to be displayed in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s newest installation.
The recent Columbia graduate from the Fashion Studies program was one of 12 students to participate in a program titled “Workshop in Fashion Studio Botanic Garden Sustainable Show.” The goal of this workshop was to create pieces in collaboration with the garden’s overarching theme of “Patterned by Nature” that would be on display as a part of an art installation within the gardens until Sept. 21.
The workshop, led by Justin Dougan-LeBlanc, associate professor in the School of Fashion, consisted of once-a-week classes for five weeks where students were given a $100 budget and access to the Botanic Garden’s warehouse.
With a guiding goal of sustainability, the class took a field trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden on the first day of the workshop to draw inspiration for designs and gather materials from the warehouse to create upcycled garments. Dougan-LeBlanc said the students had to get creative in order to create “one of a kind” pieces made out of various unconventional materials provided by the Botanic Garden, such as banners, posters and insulation material used in previous exhibitions.
With leftover curtains, aprons and wires, Barrera said he was able to give the materials “a second life,” as he made a floor-length corseted gown out of them.
“Many people don’t think that you can make clothing out of curtains or things like that, but in the end it’s fabric,” he said. “Maybe it’s not associated with fashion, but it’s still material that you can use for apparel.”
The focus on upcycling materials to create new garments aligns well with the Botanic Garden’s mission towards environmental sustainability. Sarah Harlow, the visitor, engagement and events manager of the garden who also worked on the exhibition collaboration, found this project to be unique as it allowed creativity while practicing the sustainability that the garden values.
“It can be a sensitive topic, culturally, but I think it’s important to showcase that it aligns with our values, and that we do want to upcycle and create the opportunity to be creative in that as well, and I think this was a really fun way to go about doing so,” Harlow said.
Dougan-LeBlanc also prioritized this quality while running the workshop. As the students learned to work with unconventional materials to create fashion pieces through each class, he said this was an effort to raise awareness on the topic of sustainability through fashion.
“Doing this collaboration with Chicago Botanic Garden is one way to raise awareness,” Dougan-LeBlanc said. “It was actually really inspiring to see the students realizing that they can create garments out of any material that they put their minds to.”
Though the students were given a stipend to outsource fabrics, Ciara Brophy, a rising senior fashion design major, made a point to upcycle as much of the garden’s warehouse materials as possible for her design. She chose to challenge herself by using an old banner, made from canvas material, to create two overlapping dresses.
“It was interesting, because it was something I had never sewn before, so it was a little hard,” Brophy said. “But, I was able to do it, so it was fun trying something new like that.”
Right next to Barrera’s design stood another mannequin with vibrant red two-piece skirt and top design, with green strings hanging at the bottom, made by David Navarro, a rising sophomore fashion design major.
After taking close-up photos of the plants at the garden on their field trip, Navarro was inspired to “manipulate the fabric” by using a technique called piping, to mimic the patterns he saw in nature to fit the garden’s theme. Though it took time and changes along the way to execute his design, he enjoyed trying something he had never done before and is gratified to have his design on display.
“It feels great,” Navarro said. “This is the second or third time I’ve had my work exhibited on the school, so it makes me feel really proud honestly.”
The designs were originally shown in the window of the 618 S. Michigan building, and later moved to the Botanic Garden on June 7. Brophy was especially excited to share her work beyond Columbia, as a means of representing her passion for sustainability with more of Chicago.
“That’s so cool, because it’s something different, and it’s something that means a lot to me,” Brophy said. “So, for it to be a sustainability project that’s being displayed is really cool. Also, so many people go to the gardens every day; it’s giving more of an impact, especially because it is there for so long.”
Dougan-LeBlanc shares the pride of seeing all of the designs up to stay until September, especially for their collaboration with the exhibition space designers. He said originally, they had planned on putting the garments in a vibrant, colorful exhibition space, however ended up using a neutral room to let the colors of the pieces speak for themselves.
“I’m proud of the students for them being able to pull something off like this in such a short amount of time,” he said. “And I was thrilled on how the Chicago Botanic Garden has chosen to display the garments. It’s very well presented and I was really pleased with that.”
Copy edited by Brandon Anaya
