These Sustainable Garments Are All Anyone Is Talking About at the Northshore Mall (Part 2)

The most talked about garments at the Northshore Mall are fun, fashion-forward and – made of trash? That's right! This year, Bay State College Fashion Design students partnered with restaurants and stores at the Northshore Mall to create original garments made entirely out of donated, recyclable products. We sat down with Hannah Richardson and Laurie Warden to learn more about what went into making these incredible creations. 

Here are Laurie's comments about the garments she created in partnership with Legal Sea Foods. 

On Working with Legal Sea Foods 

"When we got everything from the Northshore Mall, we drew numbers out of a hat and picked in that order. I was near the end. Legal Sea Foods had donated lobster bibs, little red lobster forks, a whole bunch of oyster shells, some napkins, and plastic takeout bags." 

"In the past, people haven't picked Legal Sea Foods because of the shells and all the different materials. I thought it would be cool to do something with the shells, but I actually ended up doing more with the plastic material." 

On This Crocheted Bodice 

"First, I had to make sketches of the design. Then I had to play around with the materials and see what I could do. My first sketch was a shorter knit top with a crocheted train, like a mermaid dress (because of seafood)." 

"I cut the little lobster bibs up into one inch strips, tied and knitted them all together. I got the idea of knitting from my aunt, grandmother and great aunt. They crochet plastic grocery bags together to make reusable plastic grocery bags. The lobster bibs were stretchy, so when I knit it all together it was kind of like a stretchy, knit top. It didn't need a zipper or anything in the back." 

"I found one shell that was the size of a quarter in the entire shopping bag full of shells. I made that into a bracelet, which is adjustable on the wrist. I also made one shell into a necklace, which is also adjustable." 

On This Spiraling Skirt 

"At first, I took the takeout bags and cut them up into really wide strips and tried to make them into a dress. I put it on a dress form, cut and sewed it together with a sewing machine, put some darts in it, a zipper up the side of it, with straps. So there's a mini dress underneath that because the knit top is kind of see-through." 

"When I was cutting the lobster bibs for the top, I cut around the center of the bib because there was a red and green logo. I was left with a circle with their logo. With a ruffle, if you cut it out in a circle and lift it up, it's going to curl. So I did that and created curled strips, and used those for the skirt rather than just crocheting strips." 

"The front is one foot shorter than the back, which is longer to form a kind of train. I didn't have enough lobster bibs to finish it, so I went to Legal Sea Foods in Copley Square, showed them a picture of what I was making and asked for more bibs! They thought it was cool and donated some so I could finish." 

On Fashion and Sustainability  

"This project definitely made me think more about how we can reuse things in fashion, especially with our Eileen Fisher project coming up." 

"With the materials that I had, my design changed because of what I was able to do. The design is not going to stay the same from the first sketch that you make, it's going to change. You're going to want to change things about it, or after you get it on a form, it may not look how you thought it would. You always have to be open to being flexible." 

You can see this garment and others like it at our annual student-run fashion show! This year's theme is Greenhaus Couture and is all about recycling, reusing and repurposing. Admission is free. Join us Sunday, May 7th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Galleria, located at 10 Saint James Avenue in Boston.