ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., — It’s lucky number seven for the Trashion Fashion Show as St. Bonaventure University hosts its annual runway showcase highlighting sustainable designs constructed by university students and middle/high school students from surrounding communities.
The annual runway show, dubbed “Bona’s Gets Trashy” and featuring outfits designed from 90 percent post-consumer materials, will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in the Rigas Family Theater of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on campus. The show is free and open to the public.
St. Bonaventure and local students will compete head to head to take home top honors for their designs and modeling ability. Each designer or design team is challenged with establishing a theme and creating a wearable, environmental friendly or upcycled outfit. The goal of the competition is to combine high fashion with sustainable practices,demonstrating the importance of undertaking recycling and upcycling initiatives in one’s daily life.
“To think that we are seven years into this event and people are still just as excited about it now as they were year one proves to me this event is worth it,” said Sean Conklin, assistant curator of the Quick Center and Trashion Fashion coordinator. “I’ve been a part of the experience from the beginning and a different group of students participates each year. New people attend the runway or keep coming back and it shows people care about the environment in our area. They want to support sustainability initiatives and are excited for opportunities to do so.”
Ludwig Brunner, executive director of the Quick Center, is continuously surprised at the ingenuity of the student designers.
“Recently we have seen a greater shift toward more local high school students participating in this event, and this year middle-schools students have asked to participate,” said Brunner. “To see these students be so passionate and to have developed such social awareness at this early point in their lives is admirable. I am happy the Quick Center can serve as a place to bring them together to promote such an important cause. This event is a true demonstration of the overwhelming creative talent we have in our area.”
Conklin believes the success and growth of the annual event is a testament to the growing importance everyone is placing on the need for daily sustainable practices.
“Trashion Fashion takes something common like recycling, something that people are more or less assumed to be doing, and gives it renewed purpose — it makes it feel fun and fresh. The event taps into that combination of creativity, social responsibility and agency that we’re seeing everywhere right now so it draws people from so many different circles. I could not be happier in terms of how it has been supported year after year by our communities,” Conklin said.
The event is held in collaboration with the celebration of Earth Day on April 22, and is free and open to the public.
