1st place:Pretty Pockets Designer - Moniece Rae Charlton Model - Linda Flemmer Benson
This ensemble consists of three parts: 1) An upcycled knit top with tiny chambray pockets on the sleeves, and lace & denim scraps trim. 2) Fabulous long vest with jean pockets with paint, appliqued fabric and yarn embroidery added. Vintage buttons adorn the front and pocket flaps. Jean scraps, buttons and earrings are fashioned into epaulets- while the back has more embellished jean pockets, lace panel, denim flower, gold paint and more yarn embroidery. 3) the flowy pants have been upcycled with appliqued chambray flowers, wool fabric stems and leaves, extra pocket, yarn embroidery, and organic shapes made from old jeans with gold paint on the back of the pants.
2nd place: Denim Lightning Designer: Mack Brewder Model: Joseph Pontieri
The pants are made with denim scraps from old jeans sewn together, with angular plaid pockets made from old fabric from Goodwill. He also has a plaid shirt to match the jeans.
3rd Place:Grandma's Cookie Jar Designer and Model: Lilah Spinak
My piece is a mixture of fabrics from my mom’s studio and my grandma’s closet. I used a lot of scraps from old jeans and a lot of other scraps for my pants. My tank top is made out of rainbow t-shirt scraps and old stained fabric. My puffy jacket is made out of some of my grandma’s fleece and some parts of a stained dress. My Grandma’s Cookie Jar was always full of some type of cookie, whether it was a month old or just baked. My outfit has some of the same traits as my grandma’s cookie jar because my outfit is made out of some old fabrics, some not so old, some stained, some not.
These silk bohemian-inspired cargo pants were created with damaged textile pieces from the last 75 years. Scarves, ties, dresses, sheets and more have been sewn together to create this storage-forward look. Above her piece pocket pants, Ever is wearing a silk tiny T created from over-dyed bits of yesteryear’s sweater set cardigans. Her look is topped in a finger crocheted cap crafted from a discarded suede jacket cut to ribbon. Everything old is new again in this spring fit.
Rotary Remix/Shoddy/Sew-in
1st place:The Keeper of Loose Ends Designer: Team Trillium Model: Julie Bennett
The Keeper of Loose Ends is a capsule wardrobe in an eclectic mix of textures. Using a palette of fog, dust, and sky tones, it pairs a crisply tailored linen coat and top hat with a pieced translucent top and hand-stitched wrap skirt. A slightly peculiar Sherlock Holmes vibe is undercut by artisanal craft, such as the stitched detailing on the skirt, secret messages on the top hat’s band, and the hand-woven shawl. Mysterious minky unmentionables complete the ensemble. Deceptively conventional, this mix and match wardrobe was made entirely from abandoned materials—-suggesting a radical and inventive aesthetic. By pairing playful nostalgia with a forward-thinking re-use of materials, the Keeper of Loose Ends offers fresh ways to think about fashion, clothing, and self-expression.
2nd Place:Magician's Playsuit Designer and Model: Edy Cooke The Magician’s Playsuit is an articulation of the necessity of playfulness in the creative process. A sense of wonder is needed to receive, trust, and express creative impulses, and magically transform them into matter. This look is inspired by The Magician tarot card mixed with the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, with a whimsical nod to Victorian and psychedelic fashion elements. These pieces were constructed with a mix of curtain and upholstery fabrics, including 41 upholstery sample squares. This design features a fully lined and applique-embellished jacket, patchworked silk upholstery scrap sleeves, front tie closure and ruffle hemline. The jumpsuit underneath showcases a quilted tulip curtain turned bodice, with back tie closure, and pocketed bloomer pant legs.
3rd place:Picnic Remix Designer: Team Planet Sisters Model: Minara Sugano
I wanted to experiment with a corset-like bohemian dress, something a young woman could wear to a senior sunrise gathering, an autumnal picnic, or even Coachella! This Rotary Remix dress consists of various upholstery fabrics. The top is a sweetheart shaped bustier made from thick denim-like material. The long skirt consists of three different textiles sewn together, including a colorful blanket with New Orleans themed graphics, a patchwork of brown cotton squares, and a floral bedsheet.
She arrives already mid-escape. The understructure is wool — raw, honest, the kind of warmth that smells of animal and earth and winter kitchens. It is the first skin. The maiden’s skin. Worn close to the body like something you did not choose but have always known. Over it, cast-off has been gathered, re-articulated, re-believed. What someone else discarded as too old, too delicate, too much trouble — she has mapped into something new. Look closely and you will see the thread does not merely decorate. It navigates. Coastlines run along the collarbone. River mouths open at the wrist. Someone has charted a journey in needle and cotton that no cartographer ever thought to make: the interior geography of a woman becoming. The cage structure is visible — architectural, deliberate — but the bars are already bent. Already opening. The crone does not ask permission to shed what no longer serves her. She has lived long enough to know that transformation is not an event. It is a practice. Nothing here was wasted. Nothing here was finished — until now.
Birthday Party
1st place:The Golden Tulip Outfit Designer: Pratha Gaur Model: Megan McSheffrey
“Jal,” meaning water, explores rhythm through fluidity, movement, and repetition. This outfit is part of a collection interpreting this through layered, recurring design lines that echo the natural flow of water. Each piece is constructed using scrap fabrics, deadstock, and leftover materials—transforming waste into structured, expressive forms. This one is crafted from repurposed curtains, combined with mesh to build repetitive textures in the garment. It is part of a mini-collection that reflects an exploration of sustainability, texture, and the quiet rhythm found in reuse.
Envision a woman's first legal right to vote in 1920! This flapper dress celebrates feminine independence and non-conforming ideals about women. Imagine it worn to a birthday celebration in a hidden speakeasy during the Roaring 20s era. A celebratory dress to remind us to continue to dance to our own rhythm, to continue our march to equality, while continuing to shine brightly. This dress is made of a single deconstructed velvet scarf and its satin backing. The floral beading is hand sewn from beaded necklaces donated by friends. The straps are fastened together by a metallic, multi-chain necklace. The lining is upcycled from a previous ReFashion entry -- it was originally a tablecloth. The silver fringe came from an additional scarf used for the dress. The laced edging, also used for straps, was donated by friends. This dress represents hope for positive social change and to remind us of where we came from.
3rd Place:Ties Designer: House of Domenica Model: Nica Juranty Rogers
Dress shirts and ties are commonly associated with formal occasions. Nica wanted to explore the concept of “getting dressed up” through a playful reinterpretation of these materials. She hoped to create a look that could fit into any party and yet stand out at every party.
What if you could go out on the town in your favorite old, repeatedly darned, no longer mendable sweater and still look dressed to the nines? Lily’s creation takes over a decade’s worth of daily wear merino and cashmere wool sweaters that were a casual clothing staple (and she had already mended innumerable times) and transforms them into formal(ish) wear that you will actually wear. So shed not another tear for your beloved wool-wear. You may get older with each birthday, but your sweater can be reborn—metamorphosing into a kicky dress that is ready to head out to a birthday party, a night of dancing, a trip to the opera, or a walk up the steps at the Met Gala. You’ll never have to say goodbye to a sweater again.
Student
1st place:Cycles Designer and model:Dare Macchione This piece, "Cycles," is inspired by the water cycle. It is made from recycled cloth from a New Orleans reuse shop ricRACK. The light blue, fluffy material in the front of the skirt represents the clouds, while the long dark fabric in the back represents the ocean.
2nd place:Remember Designer and Model: Azalea Snowmassara
The first thing I think of when I think of a birthday is a slumber party. A collection of old rom-coms to watch, a pint of ice cream for each attendee, neverending pizza or fancy mocktails, also known as the ultimate celebration. But what is a party that can go all night without a cute outfit to match? That’s how this creation came to be. With fabrics collected everywhere from the bottom of my mother’s scrap bin, to using my best friends childhood curtains, this creation was made with love (and with the help of 5 different sewing machines) and hopes to symbolize all the different people who come together to celebrate you on the most special day of the year. It’s an outfit that, while you wear it, yes, you’ll be amazingly comfy and cute, but it’s also an outfit you’ll shine in.
A just below knee-length dress made from an old fairy sheet that had a rip in it with a tulle skirt that is cut and pulled up at the front. Underneath is a fairy sheet skirt with two piñatas made out of various scraps of fabric. A yellow ribbon around the waist with another one on the back in a bow, a tie made out of a small piece of a flower-patterned sheet ties the back with peach bias binding that came to me when a family friend passed away and her sewing supplies were passed on to me.
Our Other Fabulous Outfits
Outfit:Touch of Romance Designer & Model: Ann Emineth What to do with those 20 year old jeans? Well, create something new! This piece uses old jeans and thrifted lace to create a casual romance. The top was made from the legs of the jeans to create a softness and flow. The pants also show some leg with a touch of romance.
Outfit:Thingamajigy Designer: Team Purple Goose Model: Malaya Grace Barham This sister duo made an ensemble that they would actually wear to school any day. They used old fabric, jeans, and thread to make this outfit. Being able to wear something any day - and still looking good while doing it - instead of making something and wearing it only one day, then throwing it out, is the very heart of sustainable fashion.
Outfit:Simple Shapes Designer & Model: Rachel Ringdahl Made primarily from rectangles, Simple Shapes uses drawstrings to create comfortable and adjustable garments. The only material used in construction that did not come from the Rotary Remix bag was the thread used to stitch it up.
Outfit: All the Pieces Coat and Hat Model: Ever Staffler Designer: Amos Staffler A bag of dryer victim felted wool pieces were first over-dyed in a deep saturated gold, before being cut and ultimately remixed to create this train hopping speakeasy dance by firelight inspired look.
Outfit:Santa Fe Boho Chic Designer: Team Sew What Model: Chrissy Plepys From the mystery box of colors that resembled the high desert of Santa Fe comes this boho chic outfit ready to hit the town from day to night. Denim jeans are revitalized as a skirt, the chic quilted vest comes from strips of desert hue fabrics, and the reversible vest brings more denim in the form of collar and pockets. Be seen wearing this outfit during the day at art galleries, grabbing a salted rim margarita at a local restaurant for happy hour, or dancing the night away in this Santa Fe Boho Chic outfit that goes anywhere.
Outfit:Ephemera Designer: McKayla Sewnsew Model: Nikita Gohkale She walks out wearing memory itself. The silhouette rises in quilted silk — raw, unfinished at the edges — each panel stitched together like a letter kept too long in a drawer. The blue is ancestral. It crossed oceans before she was born, carried in the hands of a woman who is gone now, a grandmother who collected color the way others collect silence. That blue does not match. It was never meant to. Over it, a hooded veil falls — not to conceal, but to consecrate. It pools at the shoulders like river water finding its own level, like the Ganges, like the Seine, like any water that has watched a civilization grieve and continue. Beneath the hood, her head is high. The quilting tells it plainly: here is where two families met. Here is a border crossed. Here is a feast. Here is a name given in a language the fashion industry has never learned to pronounce correctly. She wears not only clothes, she wears a little part of everyone who made her possible.
Outfit: Floralicious Designer: Moniece Rae Charlton Model: Kelly Lauren Benson Elegant and eclectic sleeveless top and skirt for a fancy birthday party, made from a vintage Japanese brocade fabric piece, denim jeans with hand stitching, gold paint, various laces and vintage broach. Large flowers on the shoulders are made from old linen napkins, leather flowers and Swarovski crystal buttons. A thrifted shower curtain with floral accents makes up the skirt, along with ribbon embellishments and an old iridescent scarf.
Outfit: Happy Birthday, Freedom! Designer: Jacqueline Holland Model: Monica Leonor What is a 250th year birthday celebration of the Independence of America without recognizing our indigenous people who have been here for 30,000 years? Unless you have indigenous roots, we all share a collective past as immigrants. The artist wanted this dress to honor all who have called this land home for thousands of years and to celebrate all who live here now. We are all born equal and deserve to feel safe, living a life of freedom, peace and love. The skirt is made from an old sheet covered in a collection of her husband’s flags. The skirt support is made from PEX tubing and duct tape borrowed from her husband’s workbench. He couldn’t be here today because he’s still looking for his plumbing and duct tape. Wait ’til he finds out his World Cup flags are missing too!
Outfit:The Red Nadiya Dress Designer: Pratha Gaur Model: Chotika Chosiri “Jal,” meaning water, explores rhythm through fluidity, movement, and repetition. This outfit is part of a collection interpreting this through layered, recurring design lines that echo the natural flow of water. Each piece is constructed using scrap fabrics, deadstock, and leftover materials—transforming waste into structured, expressive forms. This one features shoddy poofs to create rhythmic repetition, adding both visual depth and architectural structure. It is part of a mini-collection that reflects an exploration of sustainability, texture, and the quiet rhythm found in reuse.
Outfit:The Neon Black Designer: Pratha Gaur Model: Hena Duyen “Jal,” meaning water, explores rhythm through fluidity, movement, and repetition. This outfit is part of a collection interpreting this through layered, recurring design lines that echo the natural flow of water. Each piece is constructed using scrap fabrics, deadstock, and leftover materials—transforming waste into structured, expressive forms. This onereimagines a torn Dhakai Jamdani saree. Through shirring, the fabric is transformed into distorted geometric patterns, with reinforced seams ensuring durability. It is part of a mini-collection that reflects an exploration of sustainability, texture, and the quiet rhythm found in reuse.
