Fashion merchandising students develop Runaway Bride: Into the Blue contest

One of the latest trends today -- thanks to websites like Pinterest -- is taking something old and transforming it into something new. A worn, dated dresser is turned into an elegant and modern piece after a little sanding, painting and adding new knobs. A bunch of old T-shirts are cut and sewn to create a cozy quilt.

Needless to say, a little revamping can go a long way. Southeast Missouri State University fashion merchandising students Rachel Iskrzycki and Lauren Kemper are embracing just that in their Runaway Bride: Into the Blue competition which takes place at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in Dempster Hall Auditorium.

Iskrzycki and Kemper are hosting this competition for their independent study and honors project. Fashion merchandising professor Lynn Moore provided them with 57 donated wedding dresses from the 1990s and 2000s and told them to let their imaginations run wild with how to get rid of them, Iskrzycki said.

"Originally we had 78 dresses donated by a bridal shop that was changing owners in Sikeston," Moore said in an email. "They were all sample dresses and ranged in size from four to 14."

Moore said the owner wanted to leave only current inventory for the new owner. Some of the dresses were sold in bridal events for the community last summer with the proceeds being donated to the Dr. Paula King Memorial Scholarship Fund. However, there were still a good amount of dresses left over that were not being used.

"The whole point is that these dresses are old and they're not being used anymore so transform it into something that could be used in the most creative way that you can," Kemper said.

The competition will consist of teams of two to five people that will compete to transform one dress into something more modern. All of the wedding dresses will be displayed and teams will be able to choose which one they would like to work with. After the dresses are picked, teams will have one hour to recreate the dress any way they'd like with only one rule to abide by.

"The one rule that they have in making their transformations is that they have to use something blue, and this kind of ties into the whole something old, something new, something blue," Kemper said.

Moore said Iskrzycki and Kemper came up with the idea because there is an increasing interest in recycling and reusing apparel.

"The 'green' movement is in full swing in the apparel industry," Moore said in an email. "There are even some new wedding customs emerging that include incorporating parts of a friend's or relative's dress into a bride's dress. Some are even repurposing their dresses by deconstructing the dress and using its parts in other apparel such as christening dresses for their children."

Some basic supplies for repurposing the dresses will be provided, such as sewing machines, thread and scissors, but any special materials the contestants want to incorporate into their dresses will have to be provided by the teams, Iskrzycki and Kemper said.

The competition will end with a fashion show to judge the dresses.

"Right after the hour is up and everyone is finished, one person from the team is going to be the model so they're going to get into what they actually made and we're going to have a fashion show," Kemper said. "So they're all going to model whatever they made in the fashion show and show it off for our judges."

Five judges will announce winners in the following four categories: most creative, most wearable, stylist of the night and something blue. The judges include: Annie Laurie's Antiques owner Laurie Everett, Pastimes Antiques owner Deb Maevers, Southeast student Connor Sullivan, Jessica Hill from Safe House for Women and assistant director for the College Access Challenge Grant, Brandi Brooks. Prizes had not been determined at the time of publication, but teams will be able to keep the dresses they recreate.

Any dresses left over will be donated to the Safe House for Women, Kemper said.

All majors are eligible to participate. The cost is $10 per person to compete or attend the fashion show. All proceeds from the event will go to the Safe House for Women and the Dr. Paula King Fashion Merchandising scholarship.

"We're going to split all of our proceeds just down the middle," Iskrzycki said. "So we wanted to give back to the community."

Iskrzycki and Kemper chose to give back to the Safe House for Women after meeting with Dr. Erin R. Fluegge-Woolf. Fluegge-Woolf was named Mrs. Missouri this year and is also a Southeast assistant professor of management. She will be acting as the MC for the Runaway Bride: Into the Blue Competition.

"We originally started brainstorming with Erin to see different ideas, directions we could go in with and we definitely ultimately decided that we wanted to give back to the women in this community," Iskrzycki said.

Anyone interested in signing up for the Runaway Bride: Into the Blue competition can do so by emailing Iskrzycki at rpiskrzycki1s@semo.edu or Kemper at lekemper1s@semo.edu. Those interested in attending the fashion show will pay at the door.

"Not many people know about the fashion merchandising program at Southeast," Iskrzycki said. "And we kind of wanted to promote that and show what we do, what we are wanting to achieve with this program."