the upcycled gear runway show
celebrating the transformation from the Ryerson Rams to the TMU Bold through sustainable design
Collaborating with the athletic department, 27 one-of-a-kind looks were created using Ryerson and Rams-branded materials by twenty fashion designers who are TMU Fashion Design alumni and students. Designers were paired with TMU student athletes to draw inspiration from the varsity athletic experience and to design for an athletic body. As the fashion show was a celebration of varsity athletics, TMU student athletes were centred throughout the design process and modelled the designer’s looks for all photoshoots and the Upcycled Gear runway show.
All pieces created for the Upcycled Gear fashion show were available for purchase following the show via an auction. Proceeds from the auction and fashion show ticket sales, over $7,000 CDN and counting, are directed to a newly created TMU Bold Equity and Inclusion Award. The TMU Bold Equity and Inclusion financial award will support the ambition of student-athletes from equity deserving groups to achieve excellence academically and athletically.
TMU fashion students interested in sustainable design formed the ‘fashion intern team’, working alongside Tricia and I throughout the entire process. Together, we designed, documented, prototyped and made all the volunteer staff uniforms, accessories used in the fashion show, graphic communication materials, and the conception, curation and execution of an exhibit to further highlight upcycled design and the designer’s outfits. We worked under the directive, ‘no new materials’, which resulted in us scavenging all materials and resources needed for the show and exhibit from around the university campus.
Rather than buying or borrowing shoes for the runway show, we decided to ask all the athletes to wear white sneakers and we created ‘sneaker covers’ to complement the designer’s upcycled outfits. T-shirts made exclusively for an event for for volunteer staff to wear are a one-time use item and should be viewed as disposable. In lieu of this practice, the fashion students designed and made shirts from the collected branded materials for all the event volunteers and staff. Volunteers and staff who did not keep their event shirt, were sold at the auction alongside the upcycled designer pieces. Shirts were designed to be ‘sizeable’, fitting a variety of body sizes and for re-wearing beyond the event, thus void of any logos or event marketing. The fashion students can be seen wearing their upcycled event shirts in the first photo below.
photos documenting work with the fashion intern team
upcycled gear fashion show & backstage
photo credits: Curtis Martin & Marco Muia
