RECYCLED FASHION: How to turn your supermarket into Project Runway

Paper or plastic?  For a brief time in the 1960s, the disposable paper dress was all the rage. Could Emily Berezin’s grocery bag recycling dress follow suit?

I once made a clunky costume out of trash bags — cape, belt, vest and shorts — for a Create-Your-Own-Superhero themed Halloween party. Trashman (and sidekick Garbageboy) also wore plastic hubcaps as belt buckles.

But Emily, who ironed sheets of grocery bags together and used newspaper to prevent the front of the dress from melting to the back, looks like she should be walking down a fashion runway. And she definitely should be competing on Project Runway.

Although this is not the kind of fabric that would hold up during the harsh Pittsburgh winters!

Grocery Girl in Action

I stumbled across Emily’s portfolio while researching a Herald business story on insect-based advertising, the bizarre use of houseflies (“flyvertising”) to pull mini-banners through the air at trade shows. I highly recommend you check out her biting satirical commentary on our consumer culture. She sculpted Wonder Woman out of pasty Wonder Bread (the crust hair is AMAZING) and makes “BRAnd bras” out of snooty designer labels.

I mean this in only the most complimentary way, she’s a smartass who can sew. Perhaps this holiday season you might consider giving that special someone an embroidered cockroach?