You should have seen Katie Malecki’s dress yesterday. It was so trashy.

Adrienne Hart’s was even worse.

And that Brenda Coleman, come on … coffee filters? Who’s she trying to kid?

Their poor parents.

If only some Iowa State parents knew that their daughters are away at school asking their friends for snack food wrappers so they can make clothes out of them.

How embarrassing.

Well, not really.

After all, the daughters had the excuse that it was for their textiles and clothing experimental design course and was going to be featured in “Showcase ’97”.

But then there’s Matt Sobaski. He’s the son of a small-town southern Iowa farm couple whose big brother came to Iowa State to major in agriculture. Following in the family’s footsteps, guess you could say.

But Matt’s here designing, no not farm equipment, not innovative ways to manage manure. He’s here at Iowa State designing … women’s formal wear.

The thing is, he’s good. Really good.

And his parents don’t mind one bit.

In fact, both Hart, a senior in apparel merchandise, and Sobaski, a sophomore in apparel merchandise, tied for first in Showcase ’97’s “People’s Choice Award” where the 200 attendees voted on their favorite designs.

Their designs were just a few of the approximately 50 exhibits featured in Showcase ’97, a student-run fashion exhibition that was held on Thursday afternoon by the College of Family and Consumer Sciences in LeBaron Lounge.

From Malecki’s dress, which was made out of candy, potato chips and other snack food wrappers to Hart’s designs, a miniskirt and top outfit made out of 3,000 folded chewing gum wrappers and a dress made from static-control dryer sheets, creativity was overflowing from LeBaron Lounge Thursday.

Malecki, a senior in apparel merchandise, said the assignment was to create something out of plastic. She chose to laminate snack food wrappers for both recycling and monetary purposes.

“I don’t know that I would ever wear it,” Malecki said. “My friend thought that it might be fun to wear the top to the bar sometime though. But it doesn’t really breathe very well being plastic.”

Brenda Coleman, a senior in apparel design and production, designed a “dance hall dress” made from papier mach‚ and about 100 pink dyed coffee filters.

“I wanted to try to create something using papier mach‚ … and coffee filters were a suggestion someone had come up with in class,” she said.

“It was supposed to look really old and renaissance, but wound up looking like an Old West dance hall dress,” Coleman said.

Other unusual designs featured in Showcase ’97 were a dress made from a shower curtain; a “wrapping paper flapper dress” made from iridescent wrapping paper by senior Michelle Hall; and a long checkered skirt made from black and white paper napkins.

Mary Littrell, professor of textiles and clothing and a faculty adviser for the event, said, the assignment was intended for the students to be creative and come up with some fun, innovative designs and “not get hung up on having to wear them.”

Some more “typical” fashions included such items as formal wear by seniors Mindy Muhlbauer and Heidi Troyer; and a miniskirt made out of “Dad’s old ties,” by senior Nikki Smith.

Jane Farrell-Beck, professor of textiles an clothing and a faculty adviser for the event said Showcase ’97 was pleased with the turnout by both designers and those in attendance.

Beck said, Showcase ’97 offers the students feedback on their designs. “I think designers feel they’re getting something beyond the classroom, which ultimately, is our goal.”