My inspiration for my prom dress was my love of spring. Spring is the season when beautiful flowers and animals come out of their slumber. This dress also connects me to my past with my grandmother. When I was little I would always be crafting with her and when she passed due to Covid-19, crafting became my way of keeping her soul alive. We would always be outside in the spring finding butterflies and seeing the beautiful colors that they showed. During the period after she had passed, I began doing duct tape projects. The main mint color and the flower patterned belt were my first two roles of duct tape that I got to craft with. Even today, three years later, their still two of my favorites to work with.
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Katelyn S.
9
Rolls
34
Hours
Inspiration:
I have always had a passion for creating new things, especially clothes, so when I found out about this contest I knew it was a great opportunity to test my skills!
After a long process of deciding the overall concept for my dress I finally went with a classic silhouette including unique details to portray an idea of natural femininity and beauty through fashion. I drew a lot of my inspiration from fashion designers whom I admire for their use of color and movement in their garments. The blue colors I used remind me of water or sky which I think reflects fluidity in life, and in this dress. I hand stitched pearl details to the skirt to give the piece a more elegant look and to create more harmony between all the colors in the gown. My love of classical art as well as fashion is evident in this dress and I am glad I had the opportunity to learn so much during the design process!
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Lydia P.
45
Rolls
48
Hours
Inspiration:
The theme of my dress is a celebration of my childhood love for science, specifically sea creatures. Each ruffled layer of the skirt represents a layer of the ocean: sunlight, twilight, midnight, and abyssal zones. Each ruffle features silver sea creatures which live in their corresponding zone, with fewer animals on the lower layers representing the relative emptiness of the deep. My favorite creatures include the hammerhead shark, giant squid, and anglerfish.
All the layers are tied together with bright corals, made with over twenty different colors and patterns of tape with a coral reef across the bodice. The accessories highlight deep sea creatures: the purse is designed to resemble a bioluminescent comb jelly, and the earrings oarfish.
In creating my dress, I wanted to press the boundaries of what duck tape can do structurally, such as in the 100% duct tape heels, which are cut to reveal the inner layers in the accessories picture. The heels have now made it through two school dances! My blue nails and the string on the pearl necklace are also made only of duck tape.
Marrying technical design with artistic symbolism has been at the heart of my duct tape creations for the past nine years. I look forward to continuing to pursue my interest in duct tape and other materials as I prepare to study materials science and engineering this fall.
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Monica G.
23
Rolls
53
Hours
Inspiration:
The inspiration for my outfit was breast cancer awareness. Many of my family members have died because of cancer and this year, when someone I knew got a breast cancer diagnosis, I decided to make my dress inspired by the pink ribbon. Gold can also be a symbol of triumph, success, and fortune, and for this dress, is to symbolize breast cancer survivors.My hair piece, in the shape of a bell, pays homage to the bell that is rung when a cancer patient completes treatment. The flowers are carnations, of which, pink ones are given to breast cancer survivors and those who are going through treatment.
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Katelinn K.
10
Rolls
35
Hours
Inspiration:
I’ve always considered myself to be an optimist; a “glass half full” kind of person, if you will. I wanted to incorporate that theme into my tux. I did so by showing that the sky is never fully dark. No matter how dark the sky may seem: the stars are always there to light the way. You can keep a similar mindset in your life; no matter how negative and harsh things may seem, there’s always something to be positive about.
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Jordan H.
17
Rolls
52
Hours
Inspiration:
I was inspired to make this dress after seeing Halle Bailey’s dress at The Little Mermaid movie premiere. I have always enjoyed watching The Little Mermaid, so I took inspiration from the original movie and the remake. Although I have never made a dress out of Duck Tape, I have sewn many custom dresses. Since I was 10 years old, I have been making custom prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, homecoming dresses, and majorette costumes. I now have my own business, J.Alise Designs. While making my Duck Tape prom dress, I started my design process by sketching the dress. I had to change some of the design as I progressed through my process. I chose the colors tortoise, silver, metallic green, and metallic pink as a reference to the Little Mermaid. I chose each of the designs and accessories to embody the appearance of a mermaid and the unique, beauty of a prom dress. Over the last couple of weeks, I have enjoyed making this prom dress and can’t wait to see all the other beautiful dresses and suits!!!
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Nicolette E.
8
Rolls
33
Hours
Inspiration:
The inspiration for my tux was rooted in feminism. I feel that we, as a society, are moving back to a time when things are only seen in black and white, hence the choice of colors. I decided to go with a traditional tux style to represent the outdated ways of thinking. But I also added a more modern feather train to represent a newer way of thinking and the idea of change. I didn't want to only show the bad. I also wanted to imply that things can get better. I chose to incorporate swans and their feathers due to their symbolism in hope, transformation, and love. The swans and feathers represent my hope for a better and more equal future. The incorporation of the color red is representative of love and the fact that love should be shown to all people, no matter their differences.
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Ava M.
23
Rolls
227
Hours
Inspiration:
Fashion and art have always played a major role in my life. Since I was young, I've always had a strong passion for both, and the Duct tape prom dress competition was a great opportunity to show off my love for art and fashion.
When I was eight, my third-grade class got the opportunity to create a business and sell things for one week during lunchtime. Most of my classmates brought items from home to sell like buttons, pencils, and bookmarks, but I brought my own clothing sketches. I spent hours sketching out clothes, my favorite clothing item to draw was dresses. I added lots of color, glitter, and stickers. I sold my designs to classmates for a dollar per sketch and everyone loved them. This was an important moment for me because I realized that I loved fashion and I want to spend the rest of my life surrounded by it.
The inspiration for my dress was Vincent Van Goghs painting "The Starry Night." I chose this painting for inspiration because it has always been a very calming painting to me with its post-impressionism style and use of a blue and yellow color scheme. For my whole life, I have always struggled with a slight form of anxiety and when it ever became too much to handle, I would paint. Painting has become a great outlet to calm my anxiety, and I wanted to express that through this dress. When creating this dress, I wanted to have lots of texture. To achieve this, I painted various colors over strips of Duct tape, and then I cut them up and layered them on the dress until I got the finished product. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to share my creation with you, and hopefully, I inspired some of you to use art as an outlet for some of your personal struggles or emotions.
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Lauryn V.
12
Rolls
71
Hours
Inspiration:
Nothing better than sewing, science, and scandal. I combined three of my favorite interests into one. I've always had a strong desire to work on projects that allow me to express myself creatively. When I first heard about this contest, I was ecstatic since it allowed me to combine my passions for science and crime with my passion for sewing. I picked this design to express my lifelong fascination with forensics. I've always liked chemistry, mysteries, and aiding others; forensics has always piqued my interest, and I can't wait to explore it in the near future.
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Claudia L.
10
Rolls
25
Hours
Inspiration:
My inspiration for my outfit is the university I will be attending to this fall. Last year, when I went to visit the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage, I got the amazing opportunity to see the northern lights for the first time and let me tell you, that was most unforgettable experience seeing the beautiful colors dance through the sky. When the contest opens for this year I knew I had to pay homage to the university and to the wonderful experiences I had up there.
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Isabella D.
6
Rolls
14
Hours
Inspiration:
I love flowers, and while I was working on this, I was watching a show set in Hawaii. The fashion is slightly based off the freeness of the clothes and the flowers. I really liked how it all came together and demonstrated how prom can be more fun, and less typical black tie and white ball gown.
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Riley Z.
15
Rolls
75
Hours
Inspiration:
All my life I have been drawing space warriors inspired by Starwars clones so a good many of the patterns that are on my outfit have been used before in my drawings of the space fighters I used to draw. The colors were inspired by my schools colors black and red as well as my favorite color orange I also added pink and yellow and purple which create an Arizona sunset which is where I live. The tiger stripes were inspired by a Fortnite character and later used in my drawings. The smiley face was inspired by my favorite freshman wrestler, Pedro, who has a shirt with a smiley face, but I made it my own. The shutter shades were inspired by my friend Nick who brought a pair of shutter shades to prom. My name on the back was inspired by my coaches putting our last names on the back of the wrestling merchandise that we received during the wrestling season. My inspiration for the letters comes from my high school's representation of the letter "E" font, it is how I imagine the rest of the alphabet would look.
I made the outfit by duck taping over a prom outfit that I was in possession of at the time. The designs were made by tracing them onto a piece of paper then taping over them cutting them out and then running water over them and rubbing the paper off so that you are left with just the tape then I dried it off and then stuck it onto my outfit. The shutter shades were made by using pipcleaners as the glasses arms and the I used scewers to create the frame and the shutter part of the glasses.
It was a long process but it was fun.
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Mya L.
4
Rolls
4
Hours
Inspiration:
I wanted something unique but with "Emo" vibe. I wanted to show off your personality but keep a innocent, sweet, girly vibe
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Amelia C.
10
Rolls
14
Hours
Inspiration:
For this project, I was inspired by a mix of family and fashion history. Some of my ancestors were Scottish, so I started with the idea of recreating a version of their clan tartan. From there, I researched inspiration from throughout fashion history and was deeply inspired by the designs of Vivienne Westwood, a pioneer in punk fashion. Since punk fashion often uses plaid patterns, these two seemed like the perfect mix. I sprinkled in a bit of my adoration for 1960s Dior and the accompanying full-skirted silhouette, which tied together the look, and accessorized with a headband (drawing from 1960’s influence) and rings, which can be signs of tradition and of new beginnings, something that creativity is all about. To me, prom is a golden opportunity to participate in tradition, while also looking to the future, and that’s something that I wanted to exemplify with my dress.
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Hayden V.
20
Rolls
13
Hours
Inspiration:
For my outfit I wanted to go for 17 more aesthetic based, I made me try to make a theme around the tape that was available at My store and looking at all the floral prints and nature themed ones I decided to go for a cottagecore theme for the main aesthetic.
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Ava N.
20
Rolls
60
Hours
Inspiration:
I wanted to make my dress look like a design painted on a tea cup with the flowers and colors combined. I also really love flowers, I have many many flowers in my room and they represent all of the good things I have done and accomplished In my life. I have never done anything like this before and it was just a really great experience to participate and put this dress together and I am very proud of how it turned out
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Victoria G.
7
Rolls
41
Hours
Inspiration:
When I was thinking about which direction I wanted to go in, I was interested in the way duck tape could be transformed to look like scales. From this initial idea I became really inspired by dragons and armor. I wanted to create a look that represents strength and elegance.
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Ash H.
7
Rolls
43
Hours
Inspiration:
I wanted to stick to the theme of a prom suit while still having a unique take, so I began to look into vintage suits. The suits worn in the 1840s struck me as particularly whimsical. I liked their use of layers and wanted to incorporate layers into my outfit while also retaining a more contemporary look. I decided to make my suit with a classic supporting buttoned up vest underneath. The layers with the buttoned down shirt, vest, and suit were inspired by the 1840s, but my hat was actually inspired by Venetian gondola rowers. I thought the style of hat complemented the romantic nature of the suit. I chose to add a bouquet to really tie the prom aspect.