Junk to Funk
Junk to Funk, a recycled fashion show hosted at the Crystal Ballroom, has to be one of the coolest things PDX does annually. Since 2006, the show has combined things truly essential to PDX’s identity: fashion, sustainability, art and music. This year’s show, which took place on Saturday November 14th, and included a performance by the Junquestra, a funk band whose instruments were made entirely out of re-purposed materials, which was utterly impressive.
Hosted by Mayor Sam Adams and the Portland Mercury’s Marjorie (Majorly) Skinner, which was entertaining in its own right for the funny yet slightly awkward stand up banter and inclusion of myriad trash monster characters, Junk to Funk was an amalgam of creativity, entertainment, and gutsy examples of sustainable living.
This annual “Trashion” show, the genius of Creator/Director Lindsey Newkirk and her sustainable production company, Elysium Events, in collaboration with SCRAP (the School and Community Reuse Action Project) features couture designs made by local designers, using trash, recycled or re-purposed materials. Ladies and gentlemen, turn off your leaf blowers and listen: these designs were mind-blowing! It was like Project Runway, only greener. There were designs worthy of a runway in New York, and it’s almost guaranteed that some of these designers will be well sought after to create next season’s sustainable wedding gowns. Beyond great exposure for local designers, with judges from the fashion industry present, this “Trashion” show will continue to catapult green design into the mainstream. What better place to do so than PDX?
With a live big-band of funky (read: uber talented and spirited) musicians as the backdrop, this runway show was non-traditional, showcasing models of different shapes and statures strutting with a special, springy style. The beats of the J2F band and Junquestra were so inspiring, how could they not dance down the runway? Besides, how each model worked the runway added to each design’s reception, charm, and attitude.
Aside from the shear fun-factor radiating from the participants, Junk to Funk was a well produced and educational show that aimed to bring forward the awareness of recycling, re-use, and re-thinking an old paradigm of the meaning of trash. It was inspiring to see so many people of PDX come together and put on a truly unified show that represents so much of who we are as a city.
Be sure to keep up with Junk to Funk and the Junquestra (they do events!) through their websites, and don’t miss out on next-year’s show. Remember, it’s all ages, so bring your aspiring green designer kids, too!
Click to find out about volunteering and check the Junk to Funk website later or contact them now to learn about submitting a design to the 2010 show.
Click here to read the blog of one of this year’s local designers, Brady Lange.
