DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – The Putnam Museum’s third annual Recycling Fashion Show, Garbage Glam will take place this weekend.
The event kicks off at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Putnam Museum with appetizers and drinks. The fashion show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase on the Putnam Museum’s website.
This year, 11 models will be expected to walk the runway, and they will be competing in two categories Ready-to-Wear and Avante Garde, they will be judged on creativity, construction, and performance, event organizers said. This year’s Garbage Glam Fashion Show will be hosted by Onnica Marquez, Archivist at St. Ambrose University who teaches courses in the Art History and Museum Studies program.
The event was initially inspired by the JUNKraft: Global Crisis of Plastic Pollution exhibit showcased JUNK, a homemade raft which used 15,000 recycled plastic bottles for flotation, according to a media release. With no motor or support vessel, the two-man crew launched from Los Angeles and spent 13 weeks drifting to Hawaii. They planned to bring awareness to the over five trillion pieces of plastic that are currently in the ocean.
In the spirit of pollution awareness, the Recycling Fashion Show was born in 2023. Seven designers created impressive garments from recycled materials, and their models strutted the pieces down a catwalk in the Putnam Museum’s grand lobby, event organizers said. That same year, the fashion industry held a startling 97M tons of waste. This included 18M tons of leftover textiles, 2.5M chemical waste, and 3M in packing materials.
As a substantially-focused museum, Putnam Museum is committed to educating the public about the impact of modern culture and its place in the ecosystem, event organizers said. This year, the garments are expected to feature everything from plastic bottles to grocery bags, with each piece required to have at least 70% recycled materials. They tell the story of the prolific nature of single-use plastics and their detrimental effect on the environment.
“Garbage Glam is a celebration of human ingenuity and environmental responsibility. It’s where discarded materials become powerful symbols of hope, and fashion becomes a force for change,” said Kelly Lao, VP of Museum Experience at the Putnam Museum. “At the Putnam, we believe that when creativity meets conscience, we can inspire a future where sustainability is not just a goal, but a way of life.”
Appetizers will be provided by Cheers & Graze with Charm, a local grazing and charcuterie artist, event organizers said. A cash bar for beer, wine and cocktails, and concessions will also be available.
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