I was introduced to Recycled Runway when a friend invited me to the 2016 event. At the time, I didn’t own a sewing machine and hadn’t sewed anything since my high school home economics classes but I loved the concept and decided that I’d like to give it a go.
After my mum gave me a sewing machine at the end of 2016, I took the plunge, creating two outfits with matching tote bags as my first entry.
Since then, I’ve managed to win the most creative category (2018) and people’s choice (2021), with my first overall win coming in 2022!
Jump to Year:
Recycled Runway 2017
2017 was my first year entering recycled runway.
The bag of clothes I received had large pieces of useable fabric, so instead of creating one outfit, I made two complete with matching handbags!
The outfits were quite simple, but I hadn’t been sewing for long, so I was happy with the final result.
Recycled Runway 2018 - Italia
My 2018 bag of clothes included lots of buttons, so I decided to have some fun and turn them into flowers.
Recycled Runway 2019 - After Dark / Oscar Acceptance / The Role I Played
Recycled Runway 2020 - Art Deco (or Inspired by Agatha Christie)
This year's bag of clothes included a pair of shoes as the challenge item: we had to bring our model to try on the shoes, then received the bag of clothes that had been curated to match those shoes.
Recycled Runway 2021 - African Safari
My bag of clothes (& beads)
The assembly process
The final result...
Recycled Runway 2022 - Enchanted Forest
The two pictures above show the contents of the bag of op shop clothes I received for this year’s competition. The teal and purple reminded me of a peacock, and I used this picture from Elie Saab as inspiration for the overall shape of the outfit.
I was stoked with the way the final outfit turned out, and with professional lighting it looked amazing on the runway!
I was even more stoked to be announced the winner… my first ever overall category win… and in the advanced category no less!