WILMINGTON — The New Hanover County Public Library will host its fourth annual Fiction to Fashion runway show on March 1. The show is an unveiling of the designs created by contestants ages 13 to 18.
The main material of these creations is paper; more specifically, the paper from old books that were no longer salvageable.
Check out the 2017 show on the library’s website.
Librarian and show coordinator, Scooter Hayes, said he decided to follow through with the idea after a friend pitched it to him.
There are four meetings that the designers are encouraged to attend prior to the show, one meeting involves consulting with local fashion gurus regarding composition possibilities and tailoring artist statements.
The following is a glimpse of some of last year’s contestants who will be returning to this year’s show.
Hannah Foy
Foy, who has a knack for the arts, is involved in theater, photography and fashion. She won “crowd favorite” in the 2017 runway event. Sadly, she said, this will be her last time participating. After graduating, Foy plans to take a year off and later enroll in a photography program.
“I’ve always enjoyed designing clothes, but I don’t know that I’m going to do anything with it professionally,” the homeschooled teen said.
After wowing the audience with her Alice in Wonderland theme last year, Foy will continue her Disney tribute with a Captain Hook theme for Thursday’s show.
Though she admits she gets nervous for the big reveal of her hard work and modeling her own outfit, she continued, “I like performing. You would think nerves would be a bad thing, but the jitteriness — I enjoy that.”
Emma Claire Lisk
After creating an ensemble last year that was inspired by 80s magazine glam, this year, Lisk hinted that her muse is a very famous book character.
A few months ago, Lisk took an apparel class at her school, and since then, her interest in sewing has only grown. After high school, she’s thinking about pursuing something related to apparel. For now, her outlet is her YouTube channel, where she broadcasts fashion look books.
Lisk said, “The designing process and getting it ready is just hectic. But I liked the hours before because you’re getting dressed and it’s like you’re actually a model.”
She also enjoyed how, toward the end of the event, the judges told the contestants what they thought the best parts were about the outfits.
Cheyenne Newkirk
As a newcomer to Wilmington, Newkirk originally signed up for the fashion show last year to make friends. Fortunately enough, she had a background in drawing and paper mache.
“I love to draw. I’ve drawn ever since I was little and I draw anything, really.” The fashion show gave her the opportunity to turn her drawings into real life designs.
After seeing the final products from the show’s previous years, which included a plethora of skirts and dresses, Newkirk decided that she would try her hand at making pants.
“My theme was breaking boundaries,” she said. “Just knowing that you can make pants and still look good.”
Newkirk is considering a not-so-typical yet sill artistic route after graduating.
“I’ve been thinking about maybe doing engineering because that falls in line with designing, which I like to do, and also science, which I love.”
Kylie Lundy
Lundy chose a comic book theme and even painted a layer of gloss on top of her outfit for 2017. She won “most functional design” and will be returning this year with a “fashion icons” theme.
The young fashionista credits her early interest in style to a book about Parisian fashion, given to her by her mother after a trip to Paris. But as early as she can recall, Lundy said she was drawing designs.
“I remember when I was little, I used to always draw my prom dress, and say ‘hmm do I want it in blue or pink?’”
Flash forward to now, and Lundy is planning to make her way to New York City as either a designer or model.
She said being a part of the processes of last year’s show and seeing it all fall together at the end made her take a step back and say, “Woah this is something I could really do.”
The 2018 Fiction to Fashion show will held at Expo 216, 216 North Front St. Admission is free. Doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m. The library is asking attendees to post photos using #wearbooks.
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