Dumptered rags, stuffed animal heads, altered thrift t-shirts, oh my! That’s just fashion, baby; at least when you have creative minds, and big hearts, and justice-seeking individuals at play. On October 30th, DePaul Students Against the War hosted a DIY Fashion Show to raise money for those who were affected by Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Pakistan. The goal of the fashion show was to promote the “Do-It-Yourself” ethic, which rejects the capitalistic notion that if you want/need something, you have to buy it. By creating clothes that were hand made, using only thrift or dumpstered materials, the models and designers showed that it doesn’t cost you your money or your ideals to express yourself aesthetically.
The evening was kicked off by a performance from the DePaul dance troupe BAILE, and also included stand-up comedy by Matt Muchowski, a song/performance by Rachael P. of Big Idea, a set played by electro-dance band, Shoplifter, and a very informative talk by Joey, who was in New Orleans working on an oral history project. Joey discussed the importance of donating to grass roots groups working on behalf of the hurricane, and also addressed the unity that prevailed in this time of crisis, even amongst anarchists and government officials.
The fashion show consisted of a unique array of ensembles. Iris, a student from the Art Institute, modeled her award-winning all dumpster-material made skirt, as well as a cocktail dress made entirely of skinned stuffed animals. A portion of the show was devoted to clothing hand-made by women in India who work with an organization called Market Place India. Melinda Snyder, who works for the organization, modeled and helped with the show, and explained the mission of the Market Place as a way to empower Indian women, and provide them a sense self-worth through living-wage incomes. Melinda also provided some self-designed outfits for the show. Several DePaul Students, including Andrea Craft, Beth Weidel, Raechel Tiffe, Liz Vince, Lindsey Mineff, Anjli Patel modeled their favorite thrift creations, and altered clothing. DePaul Students Against the War member, Casey Cherry, sported his DIY created bicycle, and Bianca Capetta also helped model in the show.
While the turn-out was not as big as we had hoped, a good time was certainly had by all who did attend and participate. We raised over $100 from the show, and had boxes upon boxes of donated food and clothing. With a little extra help from our DSAW fund, $200 plus the non-monetary donations were sent down to New Orleans with a group of Algonquin Food Not Bombs members, and some of the funds were allocated to help them with gas money. $50 was given to the Common Ground Co-op in New Orleans. All the food remained in New Orleans, but due to the fact that they were no longer in need of clothes, FNB members brought the clothes back to Chicago to distribute to the homeless in our own community. $180 was donated to Doctor’s Without Border’s to help with the Pakistan earthquake relief, and also last year’s tsunami.