'Trashion' Trend: Dumpster Couture Gets a Boost at Green Inaugural Ball

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 01-13-09 | STEPHANIE SIMON

[GOP_Lady]

Designer Judd Will Be Showing Off a Coat of Many Colorful Obama Posters

SANTA FE, N.M. -- In the world of trashy fashion, designer Nancy Judd has hit the big time.

Nancy Judd Ms. Judd spends her days in a studio here crafting clothing from castoff plastic bags, electrical wire and old cassette tapes. Now, her Dumpster couture has caught the eye of environmental activists, who plan to showcase her work in Washington at Saturday's Green Inaugural Ball honoring President-elect Barack Obama.

The star piece: A man's coat made from Mr. Obama's campaign fliers. She says it took her 200 hours to cut and paste and sew it.

[GOP_Lady]

Personally, I feel that trash belongs in the garbage, not on the human body, and I prefer natural fibers to electrical wire and cassette tapes. Oh, and nails are a definite "no-no!"

Image of Nancy Judd.

Make sure to check out the slideshow.

[GOP_Lady]

Cashmere, anyone? :-)

[GOP_Lady]

Breathable and washable cotton, anyone?

[SumProVita]

“...200 hours to cut and paste and sew it.”

Will she have to spend any carbon credits for this waste of energy? Lol...

[GOP_Lady]

Watching these loons is becoming more fun everyday. Never-ending source of entertainment.

[LongElegantLegs]

Useless, impractical...But well-intentioned, and therefore admirable.

Whut-ever.

[theDentist]

“And now, Pres.-Elect Obama, representing the ‘Stupid Is as Stupid Does’ constituency...”

[DManA]

Her designer must have watched Zoolander.

[zoso82t]

Derelicte!

[raybbr]

She must be a descendant of PT Barnum.

[DManA]

It is impossible for satirists to keep up.

[DieHard the Hunter]

I bet this poor, deluded artsy-craftsy do-gooder thinks this is something new. It ain’t.

Waitakere City, NZ (where I live) has been running a “Trash-to-Fashion” pageant every year since... well since just after Noah landed his Ark. As long as I can remember, anyrate. Haute couture made from garbage, worn by models, displayed on a runway, judged, and (sometimes) bought for big bucks...

She is therefore passe, old news, last year’s style.

[jmcenanly]

There was a time when this was considered comedy, rather than haute couture.

[pabianice]

This was a plot line in the movie “Zoolander.” A fashion line based on what the homeless wore called “Dereliqted.”

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Where have you been hidin’ out lately, honey?

You can’t dress trashy till you spend a lot of money.

[GOP_Lady]

Hey, be nice to me or I'll buy you that jacket made of an automobile hard top covered with nails so I can hear the klinking and no where you are all day. ;-)

[Islander7]

At left, a close-up of the 1930s-style red evening gown from the previous slide. The dress is made from upholstery fabric and 12,000 glued-on pieces of crushed glass. The dress occasionally sheds, so it might be smart to bring Band-Aids on a night out.

"I've never been injured," she said. But she sees her dresses more as wearable sculptures than utilitarian clothing. "You can't sit down in any of them, really," Ms. Judd explained.

Forget slow dancing!

[GOP_Lady]

I wonder what her “cutting and pasting” skills are like on a computer.

[GOP_Lady]

Great idea to keep guys away — the dress with the nails! Thanks!

[GOP_Lady]

Or the opposite, the dress with the bubblewrap! ;-)