Stacy Longo Travels Through the Looking Glass, Wins Project Earth Day's Student Competition

Project Earth Day 2009 photo
Photo credit: Abigail Doan

Our heartiest congratulations to Stacy Longo of the Fashion Institute of Technology, who crushed her competition underneath her pointy stilettos and emerged the winner of Project Earth Day's student competition this past week.

Shown above, Longo's two-piece outfit was inspired by the boxy, geometric silhouettes of the 1920s. (Think Coco Chanel's iconic black, white, and cream tweed jacket, which Longo drew on when choosing her color scheme.) Comprising 100 percent recycled materials—the cream skirt was originally a Bill Blass sweater salvaged from the Salvation Army, while the basket-weave top was machine-knit by Longo herself from strips of yarn she found around the classroom—the garment embodies the interplay of structure and form she finds so fascinating.

"I wanted to be creative in knitting fabric and then transforming it, rather than laying the fabric out and cutting a pattern from it," Longo tells TreeHugger. "The three-dimensional shape and structure of the garment sums up myself as a designer. I accomplished my creativity by manipulating something that did not come off a roll in a fabric store. With much talk about sustainability, there couldn’t have been a better time to introduce how important recycling is, especially in fashion."

Project Earth Day 2009 Student Competition winners
1st Place Winner: Stacy Longo, Fashion Institute of Technology
2nd Place Winner: Shirley Gallagher, Fashion Institute of Technology
3rd Place Winner: Erika Schuster, Fashion Institute of Technology
4th Place Winner: Caroline Rossingol, Parsons The New School
5th Place Winner: Theresa Chan, Connecticut College

More on Project Earth Day
Project Earth Day Eco Fashion Show (Video)
Contest: Project Earth Day for Student Fashionistas