Stout professor turns old jeans into sweet outfit, wins award
One of the profs over at Stout’s (pretty awesome) fashion department recycled old jeans into a fierce ensemble and won herself a fancy-pants international award. Proceed to the press release!
Kim Hahn, a professor in the apparel and communications technology department at UW-Stout, went in a new direction with something old.
She designed a jacket and skirt combination that won the prestigious Sandra Hutton Award for Fiber Arts recently during the International Textiles and Apparel Association annual meeting in Montreal, Quebec.
Hahn wanted to design “an innovative and contemporary outfit for modern women” but use sustainable practices in the process. She used six pairs of recycled denim jeans, weaving half-inch rectangles to make both pieces of her outfit.
“The woven pattern gives an interesting texture to the whole look while the uneven color of the denim, from various jeans, provides a unique color gradient,” Hahn said.
Hahn’s focus on sustainability has a practical purpose. Her design was inspired by a traditional Korean garment, the hanbok.
Back up a sec – “apparel and communications technology department?” That’s the strangest department I’ve heard of since UWEC’s information technologies and life drawing department. Am I right?
