Recycled materials get new life on runway at Festival of Arts
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Some things never go out of style.
A cute dress. A nice smile.
At the 17th annual Festival of Arts runway fashion show on Sunday, that spellbinding combination won out once more, with a 7-year-old girl donning a gown made from a 300-year-old sycamore.
Jonathan Boyd and Valerie Killeen, whose goddaughter Quinne stole hearts in modeling a dress made from redwood the year before, wowed the crowd — and the judges — again.
Quinne, this year posing as “The Sycamore Princess,” flourished a wand as she walked the runway, beaming as she looked in the direction of friends from her softball team.
Boyd and Killeen’s submission won the Most Glamorous Red Carpet Worthy Creation, as well as the People’s Choice Award.
“It was actually really exciting because I won again,” said Quinne, who was still being asked to twirl in her dress backstage after the awards ceremony.
The fashion show calls on festival exhibitors to create outfits from recycled materials. While this year’s costume certainly had its parallels to their previous entry, Boyd, a woodturner, was asked why he felt the judges awarded a similar concept.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the background stories of the wood that we use,” Boyd said. “Last year, it was from the California aqueduct. This is from a 300-year-old sycamore, which is one of the most famous trees in all of Southern California.
“Trees that were around during the missionaries, and then even California becoming a state, and so the fact that we are able to take large pieces of that wood and cut really thin veneers and make this, it’s definitely a blessing.”
The judges included Susan Davis, formerly the director of special events and membership services for the Festival of Arts, former festival exhibitor and fashion show participant Brad Elsberry, and Laguna Beach Arts Commissioner Pat Kollenda. They were tasked with awarding $1,000 in four categories, excluding the People’s Choice honor.
Nelson Coates, a production designer for film and television, hosted. The emcee delighted in announcing the award for Most Exciting Ensemble, which went to mixed media artist Mika Denny.
Denny’s dress, modeled by best friend Chela Banuelos, included a quarter-mile of VHS tape to form the skirt. She accessorized with a handbag made from a case of Audrey Hepburn movies.
“I definitely love movies, but I was just trying to think of something that I could use that is going out of fashion, in one way, and ending up in the trash bins,” Denny said. “I had a friend, another exhibitor here, she was going through an aunt who had passed away, and she had a huge collection of VHS tapes.
“So I said, ‘Grab all the classics and bring them to me,’ which she did, so thankful to her for donating all of these VHS tapes that would have ended up in the dump.”
Denny called Banuelos, who has experience working in commercials, a “starlet of the small screen.” She brought the right amount of vanity to the role.
“I was so surprised that the people were so receptive of the concept,” Banuelos said. “Everything related to the best, most memorable movie of their lives — me.”
Dylan Arthur Howard, a sculptor and woodworker who has shown at the Sawdust Art Festival, made a good first impression in his debut season at the Festival of Arts.
Howard, who modeled his own outfit, applied tiles of ficus to his work clothes, earning Most Innovative Use of Materials honors. He has collected 26 trees to date, using a solar kiln to dry the wood and prepare it for its new purpose.
“The piece that I presented today is my first piece of fashion,” Howard said. “It’s a full suit and glasses that are made from a local ficus tree. Over 1,000 tiles went into the suit itself, and then I also created a pair of functioning glasses with those tiles. Very pleased to have won an award as the Most Innovative.”
Fashion show veteran Anne Moore, a printmaker, won Most Creative Concept, producing a coffee-inspired outfit. Materials included coffee bean bags, filters and pods, cups, wrappers and a repurposed bedsheet.
Carole Boller, an oil painter, brought the holiday spirit to the festival grounds with “Celebration.” Taking the idea from the discarded gift bags, bows, ribbons and tissue paper after opening presents at Christmastime, Boller knew she could count on participants to gather materials.
“For me, I found that community played an important part in this,” Boller said. “I received a bag on my car full of tissue paper. I find bags and ribbons, and things like that, in my booth here, in my chair, and I finally put a little sign up and said, ‘No more,’ but I found that was part of it too. It’s part of a community. You’re not standing at an easel by yourself. You’re around people that are just feeding you information.”
Also participating in the contest were exhibiting artists Elizabeth McGhee (painting), Becky Ryan (painting) and Sharon Whalen (photography), as well as Makanna Johnson, the inaugural champion of the Festival of Arts junior runway fashion show.
