The Teflon Chains Dress (2024) debuted at Carbondale, CO's Green is the New Black Fashion Extravaganza. Modeled by Autymn Sanders, it features chains made from telephone and stereo wires wrapped in Teflon tape, hung on a frame of wrapped tv cables.
One Way Street is a jacket made from 172 single-use multilayer plastic bags. It is intentionally seductive and luxurious - a nod to the ease and convenience that plastic lends to modern life. But the jacket's intricate pattern flows into a 6-foot long train that begins to unravel at the hem, signifying whether we use plastic for 30 seconds or 30 years, it's all a One Way Street to trash.
Modeled first by Alecia Walker at the Triveni Institute's Trashion Revolution Show at Macy's in Chicago in May of 2023.
One Way Street with accessories, 2023; Jacket: quilted single-use plastic from 172 bags, polyester thread, polyester lining; Cuff bracelet: 299 single-use plastic eye drop dispensers, elastic; Necklace: PTFE dental floss, PTFE tape, discarded computer cords. Modeled by Alecia Walker (image: Alex Callejo)
American consumerism encourages us to surround ourselves with things as markers of our success, our identities, our accomplishments. Then next season, it tells us to swap those out for new things. We fill our homes with stuff, which overflows into basements and garages, and eventually storage lockers. All of these objects are locked up tight with keys. The following Key Coat and Key Collar feature abandoned keys as an albatross - a physical reminder of all we hold dear: the weight of our possessions.