A Denton librarian is looking for "green-minded" teens interested in fashion to create garments made completely from recycled materials.
The garments will be featured in the Trashy Fashion Show celebrating Earth Day this spring.
Interested teens can attend an information session from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at North Branch Library, 3020 N. Locust St. The fashion show is a joint effort of the Denton Public Library, the city recycling division and a University of North Texas fashion design group, Coffee and Couture.
Public services librarian Juli Gonzalez said teens in grades six through 12 are eligible to participate. They will be paired with UNT students to design the recycled ensembles, she said.
It's a good Earth Day project that challenges students to create a garment with items generally thrown away, she said. Gonzalez said she hopes the experience inspires the teens "to create something cool."
"It gives them an opportunity to be creative and think about how things that ordinarily go into the trash can be reused," she said.
At Wednesday's information session, teens will find out about the materials permitted for creating their garments, and organizers will display some examples. There will be a presentation on recycling and additional information on the fashion show.
Jacqueline Baptiste, president of Coffee and Couture, said UNT students from her group will mentor the teen designers in constructing creations completely from recyclable items in time for the Earth Day show in April.
At Wednesday's session, she said she intends to show a garment she created from recycled goods for the UNT environmental science department's Earth Day festivities last year.
"Instead of polluting the Earth with excess trash, you can use it to recreate something - a piece of art," said Baptiste, a sophomore fashion design major. "I'm hoping that everyone will get a different sense of fashion. They can help decrease the pollution … by using these recyclable items."
BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com.
TRASHY FASHION SHOW
For more information about the Trashy Fashion Show celebrating Earth Day this spring, contact Juli Gonzalez at 940-349-8741 or juli.gonzalez@cityofdenton.com.
