ISU students will showcase their unique projects at 7 p.m. April 25 at Serenity Couture Salon in North Grand Mall in an event they are calling a “Trashion Show.”

The Trashion Show is part of an Earth Month campaign to raise awareness for a variety of environmental issues as well as to raise money for the Audubon Society.

Cassie Bexton, an ISU alumna, conceived the idea for this Trashion Show. Bexton is currently working for Serenity Couture Salon as its community outreach coordinator.

“Fifty students are putting together 20 garments for the show,” Bexton said. “They’re all made out of completely recyclable materials, and each one is bringing awareness for a different environmental issue.”

Bexton had been part of similar projects during her time at Iowa State. When it came time to plan an event for Earth Month, she got in touch with Elena Karpova, associate professor of apparel, events and hospitality management.

“I approached Dr. Karpova with the idea in January because I was just in that class a year ago, and it was one of my favorite classes,” Bexton said. “I had Sara Marcketti, [an ISU assistant professor of apparel, events and hospitality management, as an instructor] and she had us do mini trashion shows in that class with garbage bags, so that’s where the inspiration came from.”

Karpova already had her whole semester planned when Bexton came to her with the idea, but she liked the idea so much she decided to rearrange her schedule to accommodate the project.

“I had my syllabus already ready [when she came to me,] and I said, ‘OK, I have to throw out something because it was really packed,’” Karpova said. “I think it’s a perfect match for a class like this where students can really showcase their creativity.”

The teams of students created their designs out of a wide variety of materials, including junk mail, bubble wrap, used textbooks and shopping bags.

Chelsea Chapko, junior in event management, was part of a team that used Starburst wrappers to create its dress.

“The environmental issue that we’re relating it to is littering, specifically [litter that is smaller than four inches,]” Chapko said. “Ninety percent of the litter that they clean up off the freeways and roadways is the size of your basic gum [or] candy wrapper. When you see all the wrappers on the dress, you realize how fast it can all add up.”

Chapko’s team went to a variety of sources to gather the massive amount of Starburst wrappers needed to complete the dress. Chapko went to her sister, another teammate went to her sorority and they both took to social media to ask their fellow students for help.

“We got a lot of responses through that,” Chapko said. “We did buy some of [the Starbursts] ourselves, but mostly we got them from other people … We still have one of those Tupperware things [with] this massive ball of Starbursts that we unwrapped.”

Serenity Couture Salon is an Aveda salon. Aveda is an environmentally-conscious company, which partners with the Audubon Society each April for Earth Month.

During the Trashion Show, some gowns will be auctioned off by silent auction. This auction will also feature a football signed by Paul Rhoads, a basketball signed by Fred Hoiberg and gift certificates to businesses in Ames. They will also hold a raffle for a spa day at Serenity Couture Salon.

Tickets for the event are $10 with VIP tickets available for $40. The VIP ticket includes a gift bag from the salon.

All proceeds from the event will go to the Audubon Society, which will use the funds toward clean water projects in Iowa.