'Trashion' exhibit recycles items into fashion

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) - Rita Mazza challenges visitors to the annual "Trashion" exhibit at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond to a little game.

Find the vest made of coffee filters. Do you see the shrug made from plastic grocery bags? How about the jacket made of dryer sheets?

"You'd never know," she said. "They're just beautiful pieces, period."

Mazza is the curator of "Trashion." Now in its 12th year, the exhibit blends reuse, recycling and upcycling with fashion, with garments and artwork on display in the center's main hall.

The exhibit itself is a testament to reuse, with items on display from runway shows highlighting recycled fashion from across the country.

"When I ask people from around the country for these items, these items have been displayed on the runway for maybe 30 seconds and that's a long time," Mazza said. "I really want this exhibit to be the place the go."

Mazza, who currently lives in Maryland, previously worked as an environmental education specialist for the Lake County Solid Waste Management District, which sponsors the exhibit in conjunction with the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority.

"Twelve years ago, we were hosting the Indiana Recycling Coalition and the Visitor's Center had just opened," Mazza said.

They decided to host a recycled art exhibit as part of the event. The theme was "It's A Crime Not to Recycle" and in that first year, they had 12 artists.

"After the conference was over, they invited us to keep the exhibit up," she said.

Mazza describes the works as "repurposed, refashioned pieces."

"I would say 99 percent of the pieces in the show can be worn and have been worn on the runway," Mazza said. "There is a beautiful coffee filter shrug I would wear. The other pieces would be beautiful to hang in the home."

Lauren Lein, a fine couture designer from Chicago, has a piece in the exhibit from her Vert Couture Collection, a $10,000 gown dubbed Wind Dress.

"Her pieces are high-end pieces worn by all the politician's wives in Chicago," Mazza said. "She uses sustainable materials."

Many of the pieces come from local artists as well.

Marcella Clutter, of Highland, a retired secretary in the Hammond school system, has three items on display in this year's exhibit, including a sweater created from crocheted Strack & Van Til plastic grocery bags.

"I was making the same item made from yarn," Clutter said. "The pattern, all it is is a rectangle and I thought if you could do it out of yarn, why couldn't you do it out of other things?"

Clutter said she started ripping strips of the bags and began crocheting them together.

"It's really the simplest thing," she said. "I only know one crochet stitch."

Clutter said she enjoys the challenge of "solving the problems" of how to create garments from reused or repurposed items for the show.

Kelly Rothermel, of Michigan City, is a photographer and teacher at 21st Century Charter School in Gary. Rothermel has an art piece dubbed Negative-a-Tee in this year's exhibit, a men's T-shirt made of old 35 mm film negatives.

"The negatives were all left over from my first couple years studying photography at Indiana University Northwest in Gary," Rothermel said. "Doing this piece was paying homage to my history."

"Trashion" is a family affair for Rothermel. Last year, her mother, Sharon Rothermel, of Michigan City, also participated in Trashion and again is featured in this year's show.

Mazza is already planning next year's exhibit, which will include a challenge to artists and designers. Mazza will issue bags of discarded material from area businesses and artists and designers will be challenged to create a piece from the items in the bag.

Those pieces will be featured in a judged runway show called "Walk the Walk" to coincide with the opening of "Trashion" on June 6, 2013. Pieces will be judged on use of the material and creativity.

All of the items in the runway show will be included in the exhibit with the other pieces.