Stuck At Prom®
Ocean P.
6 Rolls
10 Hours
Inspiration:
My inspiration for this creation was inspired by my love for African dance and Afro-beat music. I am a dancer and wanted to display my love for the arts through another expression! Making this dress was a way to feed my creative energy and feel closer to the origin of my people.
Stuck At Prom®
Audrey L.
14 Rolls
34 Hours
Inspiration:
My inspiration came from an antique lamp my grandma used to own. It had a ceramic carousel as the base of the lamp and a pink lampshade.
Stuck At Prom®
Clementine C.
5 Rolls
140 Hours
Inspiration:
I was inspired by Chinese lanterns and ancient Chinese warrior outfits.
Stuck At Prom®
Lucy H.
8 Rolls
35 Hours
Inspiration:
When I was in third grade, I learned to make paper cranes for the first time, and I haven’t stopped since. They became an easy thing to do with my hands, to fill the craving for art even if I didn’t have much time, like duct tape had done in years before. Making a crane out of a sticky note became an easy way to quell my anxiety, or just give me a way to fidget. I think of them as a symbol that represents who I am, and I have made thousands of them over the years. Because of all that, I thought it would be perfect to make my dress based on cranes, to truly represent me in this contest.
Stuck At Prom®
Alexandrea S.
22 Rolls
56 Hours
Inspiration:
Our winter guard show inspired my color choice. We were dressed as marble statues on a blue and gold tarp, and I really loved that color combo. I wanted a unique asymmetrical silhouette, and I knew it needed to have some butterflies if I wanted to give the true Alexandrea Experience. I wanted it to be wearable with the big skirt for pictures and the grand entrance, but suitable as just the minidress for dancing.
Stuck At Prom®
Ritika S.
38 Rolls
272 Hours
Inspiration:
The concept of my dress is harmony. In a world where we have become so polarized, I hope this dress reminds us that we can all be different but live together in harmony. The bodice of my dress represents the Earth itself; each of the seven continents have been placed around the dress, with North America, South America, and Africa in the front and Eurasia, Australia, and Antarctica on the back. The skirt represents specific elements of our world that can live together. The Electric Blue layer has religious symbols from eight of the world's most common religions. There are over 4,000 faiths practiced around the world. However, it was difficult to find all of their symbols. I will be attending university to study religion and sociology, so hopefully, I will learn about the rest too! The eight faiths I have included are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhi, Taoism, Judaism, and Shintoism. Despite having many differences, no religion teaches hate; acknowledging this can remind us that even if we all have different beliefs, we can still coexist. I kept the next layer, the smallest. I used dark blue tape and cut out a human chain using gold tape. If you look carefully, you can see that the links between the arms and legs of two people make a heart! Through this layer, I wanted to symbolize all of us living on this beautiful planet while spreading love instead of fighting with each other on various issues. If we all learn to love and accept each other more, we could do much more for humanity and the planet, including caring for endangered species, reducing hate crimes, etc. The final layer of the skirt has a background made using black tape. I made 198 flags; this was the dress's most time-consuming and detailed part, but it was worth it! I am very proud of how all the flags turned out; I tried my best to keep them all the same size and distance apart! I hope everyone can find their flag here!! I intentionally put some countries next to each other in the same row. I did this to represent the ability of two countries to exist near each other without having to fight, like with Russia and Ukraine. Even if countries have different national interests, pursuing them without negatively impacting other nations and human beings is still possible! I added hearts at the bottom and on the bodice's sleeves to tie the bodice and skirt together. It also felt like the touch it was missing to bring it all together. I made the purse look like a globe. Like the bodice, I cut out each continent and tried to make it look as realistic as possible. Instead of making a single strap for the purse, I made a chained handle. I did this because each link supports the one before it, similar to how we can do that for each other. For the corsage, I made two different varieties of flowers. I incorporated all the colors in my dress and made warm and cool colored flowers. The corsage turned out beautiful; each flower complements the others, like the many different colors in my dress, just like we can if we put in a bit more effort. I hope I was effectively able to convey the message of living on this planet differently while still being able to respect each other, our opinions, and our differences! If we were all the same, we would not be interesting. Our differences are something to learn and understand, not fear and hate. In creating this dress, I hope that even for a moment, we can set aside our differences and try and accept each other because love is what our world truly needs especially today!
Stuck At Prom®
Skyler P.
16 Rolls
46 Hours
Inspiration:
I just graduated from high school, that’s a weird thing to say when you’ve spent 13 years of your life doing the same thing year after year. Recently I’ve been reflecting on my choices, how I got to become the person I am. There is a saying that as a butterfly flaps its wings, and a change is felt around the world. Each decision you have made in your life has led you to who you are, the people you associate with, the things you did or didn’t do. I wonder who I would be if I hadn’t taken a leap of faith when the jump felt so far, so I decided that I would enter the Duct Tape Stuck at Prom contest, being that it was my last chance to do so. Creating a suit about the butterfly effect felt fitting. I wanted to incorporate the motif of the butterfly in a less traditional way, instead of the typical monarch pattern I decided on an Avant Garde butterfly shape inspired by tattoo and pen and ink illustration. I took the elements of the butterfly like its wings and decided to use oversized proportions on the sleeves and pants to emulate it. Additionally, I saw the lapels of the jacket as the butterflies' forewing and hindwings. Instead of opting to make a dress shirt, I made a bodice with a deconstructed collar neckline.
Stuck At Prom®
Nadia B.
3 Rolls
13 Hours
Inspiration:
My design was inspired by Kiana Bonollo’s style and THISISKACHI “corset style mini dress” video on YouTube. I made a sewing pattern out of painters tape and muslin. I then cut out the pattern on white trash bags and placed the tape onto the bags. I wrapped the zip ties in tan colored duck tape and then taped the black duck tape on the sides of it to create the corset. I cut two pieces of cardboard and bent it to the desired shape for the hip pieces. I then covered it in tape.
Stuck At Prom®
Veronica E.
16 Rolls
82 Hours
Inspiration:
I made this piece in honor of my grandma who misses her home country very much as she lives with me in the US. As I was sketching a design for my tux my mom showed me traditional Filipiniana dresses online that she and my grandma often talked about. Filipiniana dresses were traditional clothing worn by women in the Philippines. Since I was young I deeply admired Filipiniana dresses especially their puffy, Disney princess-like sleeves. So, I decided to incorporate the sleeves in my suit to fuse a piece of filipino culture that I admired as well as to show my grandma how much I respect and cherish my heritage. However, I also wanted to make the suit more modernized due to the inspiration I took from the beautiful Filipiniana dresses my mom showed me. So, I implemented some contemporary designs and concepts that I thought would be appropriate for a highschooler to wear at prom. As part of the design, I thought of incorporating the use of the Philippine's national flower also known as the "Sampaguita flower" on the Filipiniana inspired sleeves.
Stuck At Prom®
Jenna S.
12 Rolls
16 Hours
Inspiration:
I was inspired by an all-white dress I saw an actress wearing at an event. I wanted to create a dress that I would actually wear to my prom. I got a pattern online to use as my base and printed it out to start the panels. Once I created the panels, I cut out fabric in the shape of the panels and laid strips of tape over the fabric panels. I took the front and back dress panels and sewed them together and left enough room to put a zipper in so I can get in and out easily. I sewed the front and back train together. I struggled for years because of dyslexia. It wasn’t until I found art as my “therapy” that I was able to begin to excel academically. I have decided to help others discover art's “healing powers” and become an Art Therapist. My thought was to have something that symbolizes the field I’m going into but also shows a piece of myself. I decided to add an original art element and make the train detachable. The detachable “art therapy” train self-portrait reflects specifically how confident and motivated I feel thanks in large part to my artistic outlet. I made it detachable so others could share positive words about themselves as well. I even incorporated a bouquet of markers that they could use to sign my train.
Stuck At Prom®
Sara C.
16 Rolls
26 Hours
Inspiration:
I've always loved origami and I wanted to incorporate that into the dress. I love butterflies as well. I used gold on black because of the contrast between the two, it makes the butterflies pop out more.
Stuck At Prom®
Alyson W.
8 Rolls
30 Hours
Inspiration:
My dress was inspired by Chanel Couture runway shows in the 1990s. I incorporated the era's iconic color scheme of black, white, and gold into my design and wove white and beige tape to mimic the appearance and texture of tweed.
Stuck At Prom®
Madyson H.
22 Rolls
75 Hours
Inspiration:
I have been fascinated by the ocean from a very young age. My 2nd grade teacher had a beautiful ocean themed room. She shared stories of scuba diving with tiger sharks and gave me a love for the ocean. When we read she always pulled aside books about the oceans and coral reefs for me. I only got to visit the ocean a couple times a year when we went to North Carolina or California to visit family. These trips left a huge impact on my life and left me fascinated by the ocean. I now live in California and spend my entire summer at the beach surfing, collecting shells, and building sand castles. Did you know that over eighty percent of our ocean is unexplored? Our oceans are home to some of the most breathtaking wonders such as the Mariana Trench that is deeper than Mount Everest is tall, and the Great Barrier Reef that is home to over 600 species of coral. But as time continues and global warming becomes an even bigger problem our oceans are loosing life. I chose to make all the creatures and sea life shown on my dress using black, white, and gray tape to show that as our planet dies our oceans loose their color. There are so many beautiful creatures that reside in our seas that deserve our help. On my dress I chose to include animals such as orcas, eagle rays, humpback whale, whale shark, nurse sharks, narwhal, dolphin, sea lions, different shells, corals, and seaweed. I chose to show the diversity of our underwater world and display their beauty on a gown.
Stuck At Prom®
Sofia B.
34 Rolls
109 Hours
Inspiration:
I wanted to try something that tested my abilities and for me, that was a transforming prom dress. My transforming prom dress was inspired by how we grow and bloom throughout our years in high school. We are nurtured and taught lessons so that we may begin to bloom into our true selves. The white side of the dress depicts a rain cloud nurturing the flower to bloom. The ring accessory was worn with both sides of the prom dress because it represents that we are always in a constant state of growth. The blue ruffles on the white side of the dress and the umbrella represent rain and water which nourishes the flower. When the prom dress unfolds it reveals a flower in bloom. This side of the dress represents inner beauty. The yellow ruffle was placed at the center just as pollen is at the center of a flower. The flower handbag accessory was made just for fun because what girl doesn't love a new handbag?! The whole prom dress was made out of Duck tape, copy paper, painters tarp and a few staples. The leaves on the bodice were challenging and tedious, but I stayed focused and ignored the blisters on my fingers (lol). I incorporated current prom trends into my designs with the umbrella and prom dress train. This project forced me to think outside the box, overcome challenges and grow in my artistic abilities.
Stuck At Prom®
Mattison H.
23 Rolls
36 Hours
Inspiration:
My inspiration for this dress was early 2000 classic high school prom. Like the ones you’d see in movies where the not so popular girl stuns everyone in a gorgeous dress. It’s one of those dresses you dream about that’s classic and sleek but also eye catching.
Stuck At Prom®
Rose F.
6 Rolls
24 Hours
Inspiration:
I wanted to create a dress and corsage that incorporated pink and orange with stripes. I used Duck Tape throughout. I stuck the tape to newspaper to help the skirt flow and staples to pleat the layers. I made the straps by braiding strips
Stuck At Prom®
Emma C.
13 Rolls
75 Hours
Inspiration:
My tuxedo was inspired by steampunk fashion! I have always been interested in science fiction, so I decided to incorporate it in my look. The tuxedo, pants, and accessories were all made from scratch using paper, Duck tape, and some thin sheets of plastic. One of my favorite parts of creating this outfit was adding whimsical elements like the wings and gears on the clothing!
Stuck At Prom®
Jocelyn B.
11 Rolls
47 Hours
Inspiration:
The Na'vi people from the Avatar films.
Ocean
P.
Audrey
L.
Clementine
C.
Lucy
H.
Alexandrea
S.
Ritika
S.
Skyler
P.
Nadia
B.
Veronica
E.
Jenna
S.
Sara
C.
Alyson
W.
Madyson
H.
Sofia
B.
Mattison
H.
Rose
F.
Emma
C.