FLINT, Mich. -- Flint designer Esther Kruszewski calls it "new wave home economics."
A self-described scavenger, she recycles anything anyone gives her _ buttons, vintage clothes, even elastic bands from underwear _ and reassembles them into trendy, wearable fashions.
"My desire to sew came from the fact that I was disenchanted with whatever was (available) at the malls - the styles, the shapes, (the prices)," she said. She also was turned off by the fact that some retailers use sweatshops and by the excesses of the fashion industry.
Visitors to the Flint Institute of Arts were recently able to see her designs, along with those of other local fashionistas, at "RubbiChic, a Recycled Fashion Party." Those who attended were encouraged to dress in vintage or recycled clothing.
"We contacted a bunch of artists and Goodwill is allowing those artists to get raw materials from their stores," explained Mona Younis, administrative coordinator for the Center for Applied Environmental Research at UM-Flint, prior to the exhibit.
Younis said she and Franklin Pleasant, development administrator for the FIA, thought the party would tie in well with the museum's current exhibit, "Artists of the Great Lakes: 1910-60."
"When a lot of these works were created, the artists were looking at industrialization and (the idea of) dominating the landscape as progress," Younis said. "Now we're feeling the effects of that. We're trying to look 50-100 years down the road from a sustainability point of view."
As people become more environmentally aware, they'll be motivated to use earth-friendly, reclaimed, nontoxic materials, she said.
By sponsoring the fashion party, they're inspiring people to "think about what they choose to wear and how they furnish their homes."
Kruszewski, 20, a graduate of Lakeville High School, first got the idea to make and sell her designs when she moved to Vermont two years ago and launched a clothing collective with a friend.
"A group of seamstresses started a shop where we'd sell our remakes," she said. "We'd also teach people how to remake their clothing.
"I take out-of-fashion garments that otherwise would not be worn, alter them and breathe life into them in various ways," she added.
For instance, she transformed a 1940s skirt into a dress.
"I don't cut patterns," Kruszewski said. "It's all about the architecture of the clothing and reassembling it. I never make the same piece (twice). Sometimes it's as easy as adding length to a skirt. Other times, you reinvent it."
Some of her designs are sold at The Get Up Vintage in Ann Arbor. She also participates in events sponsored by the Flint Creative Alliance.
This is a hobby for Kruszewski. She works in the cafe at the Flint Institute of Arts to earn an income.
"It's not paying the bills yet," she said. "But it feeds my creative soul."
