Not only is plastic considered the fashion industry’s best-kept secret, but it’s also its dirtiest.
This semester, Scarlette Magazine dove into the often-overlooked reality of plastic use in the fashion industry, spotlighting how synthetic materials have infiltrated nearly every corner of our closets with a photoshoot that reimagines “trash” as wearable art.
In the photoshoot, models ditched traditional fabrics, donning one-of-a-kind outfits pieced together entirely from recycled materials, exposing the synthetic threads woven into our closets.
Averie Ison, a third-year in communications at Ohio State and the creative director of the photoshoot, said the goal was to showcase how these items could be repurposed in ways that people may have never thought of.
“It’s important because it makes use of things that are overlooked and that people just discard,” Ison said. “I thought it would be a unique shoot because we can use our creativity rather than just trying to source clothes from other places.”
Ison said the photoshoot consisted of four looks, one made entirely of bubble wrap, one made with plastic wrap, one made of aluminum soda cans and one that consisted of a pill bottle bralette.
“We thought it would be cool to make use of all the different materials that people use each day,” Ison said. “We use plastic every day, we use aluminum when we drink cans and we use bubble wrap when we get packages so I think it was our idea to use things that are used in everyday life to make [these] looks.”
Ison said since the photoshoot required an abundance of recycled materials, enlisting the help of Buckeye Precious Plastic — the Ohio State chapter of an international non-profit organization that aims to educate others about plastic pollution — was essential.
Kiara Dixon, a third-year in industrial engineering and the president of Buckeye Precious Plastic, said the goal of the international nonprofit is to use engineering to reuse plastics for more sustainable purposes, something she has continued through the Ohio State chapter of the organization.
“The [Ohio State] Industrial Engineering Department, partnered with our club so we could have a chapter here,” Dixon said. “We collect plastic from students and [organizations] in any form of donation, and then using an injection molding machine that we made, turn it into different things, like key chains.”
Dixon said when Ison came to her about the photoshoot she knew she wanted to help shed light on just how much plastic exists in the clothes we buy.
“There's a lot of microplastics in clothes. It's one of the biggest contributors to microplastics,” Dixon said. “I thought it was a really cool idea that [Ison] wanted to use the plastic itself as the clothes since, I mean, it's kind of what's happening anyway.”
Dixon said just like Buckeye Precious Plastic’s mission statement, to educate and encourage students to be cautious of their plastic usage, she hopes this photoshoot will share a similar message.
“I hope that people start to think, or just be aware a little bit, about what they're wearing and how that impacts the environment,” Dixon said. “I think the biggest thing is trying to get as many uses as possible out of any waste that we have.”
Ava Figlar, a second-year in fashion and retail studies at Ohio State and a member of Scarlette Magazine, was one of the participating designers who created an entire dress using nearly 100 soda cans.
“I collected cans for about two weeks beforehand,” Figlar said. “I Gorilla Glued them onto a plain silk dress that was too big for me, so I altered the dress to make it a small, and then glued them on a mannequin that I have in my room.”
Figlar said the photoshoot provided a unique opportunity to don unique materials, such as plastic wrap and soda cans.
“It was awesome to be able to wear trash that I would never want to touch [otherwise],” Figlar said. “All the cans that I used for my dress smelled like beer and frats and so, even cutting them out was so gross. But, when I put it on and I had my necklace on and the hair done with it, it made me feel beautiful. I thought it was awesome, that we could find a way to reshape the trash and make it into fashion. I think of fashion as armor because you put on a great outfit, your day is going to be better automatically. ”
Figlar said her hope in participating in the photoshoot was to shed light on the possibility of reworking used materials.
“I hate that so many brands are still creating so many virgin fabrics for things, so there's so much textile waste that they wear,” Figlar said. “I feel like that's my biggest hallmark behind anything that I do in fashion is just, there's already so much stuff here that we can use.”
Figlar said aside from creating repurposed designs, she has bigger aspirations in terms of sustainability. She said as a part of this year’s Best of Student Startups competition for the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship — an Ohio State center located at 1636 N. High St. in the Gateway University District — she hopes to create sustainable sweatproof women’s business wear by repurposing sweat-wicking clothing that has been donated to thrift stores.
“I have hyperhidrosis [and] that's part of the reason why I love fashion so much, is because I have excessive sweating disorder, so finding clothes that still make me feel confident, either they show my sweat stains or not, clothes that are still out there that makes me feel confident and other people feel confident,” Figlar said. “I feel like that's why I love fashion. It can really make me feel amazing during the day or awful and I want to help other people just feel amazing.”
Figlar said she was elated to be a part of the photoshoot because it provided an opportunity to showcase sustainable creativity in fashion.
“There's so much out there and there's so much creativity, that there are definitely ways for us to use what's out there and make beautiful things that tell deeper stories than what's already being produced through fast fashion,” Figlar said.
Read the Fall/Winter 2024 sustainability issue of Scarlette Magazine online at issuu.com.
SHOOT LEADS Averie Ison, Ella-Paige Kolaska / MODELS Hannah Baker, Kallyn Buckenmyer, Lizzie Garver, Ava Figlar, Rachael Johnson, Fatimata Ndong, Sophie Wu / MAKEUP Jaylah Estima / STYLISTS Kaydence Feasel, Addison Kennedy, Mia Schwind / LOOKS DESIGNED BY Alex Tremblay, Ava Figlar, Kallyn Buckenmyer / MATERIALS FROM Buckeye Precious Plastics
