Frugal Fashions by DAAP Students Earn Big Returns for Local Charity

Fun fashion designs each created on a shoestring budget by DAAP students will soon be displayed in a local runway show to benefit the local St. Vincent de Paul Society.

University of Cincinnati fashion design students recently spared every expense in creating innovative ensembles from thrift-store items, specifically from local Society of St. Vincent de Paul used-clothing stores.
Allison Eiting
Student Allison Eiting models the design she created from thrift-store finds.

As part of a challenging assignment, the students were each given a $10-dollar voucher to purchase anything sewable - bed sheets, drapes, shower curtains, napkins, tablecloths and old apparel in order to recycle and redesign the items into something fashionably new.

And soon, these garments will go on display in the seventh-annual, professionally styled RetroFittings Show set for 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, at the 20th Century Theatre in Oakley. The show has become the signature annual fundraiser for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

For the students, the assignment helps them to expand their perspective on creativity by means of the use of nontraditional materials in the design process.

"The most challenging part," said College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) student Allison Eiting of Versailles, Ohio, "Was deciding what to buy at the thrift store. I didn't quite know what I would be capable to do and how hard the different materials would be to sew."
Mary Boedekker
UC's Mary Boeddeker models her "retrofitted" design.

In the end, Eiting selected a polyester/spandex "mother-of-the-bride" dress from the early 1990s, lace curtains and a beaded skirt to create a light-pink ensemble that reflected the fashions of the 1920s.

That's because part of the assignment was to research a historical era in fashion and to reflect that decade with the new design. Eiting opted to research and comment on the 1920s because "that was such a dynamic era in fashion when skirts were raised dramatically and other significant shifts took place," she added.

Eiting so enjoyed the assignment and - even better - the results that she plans to continue recycling garments in the future: "It's both environmentally sound and creative. Not to mention that it was so fun at the final critique...(that) I can't wait to model it in the...show."

Fellow student Megan Blau of Ft. Thomas, Ky., agreed that the project was fun while challenging. "The whole thing was fun. It was great to see everything come together in the end. It was the first time we weren't making something that had to necessarily be functional as an every-day garment. We got the chance to be more theatrical."

Tickets for the RetroFittings show are available on the St. Vincent de Paul Web site or by calling 513-562-8841, ext. 225.


  • Read about the international ranking earned by UC's School of Design, part of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.