Day four of Fashion Week San Antonio featured the 5th annual Avant Garde Going Green fashion show, held at The Educational and Cultural Arts Center of Texas A&M University. Formerly occupied by the Museo Alameda, the space was transformed into a stark runway environment. Designers were tasked with creating a piece from recycled, recyclable, and environmentally friendly materials for the runway challenge. There were the obvious choices of materials — magazine pages, paper bags, garbage bags, shopping bags, and chip bags — but there was some creative thinking going into garments, such as those incorporating wood chips and twigs, bottle caps, seashells, and even a deconstructed basketball.
A few offerings were so masterfully done that I would have taken the pieces home right then and there and worn them out. LaToya Hudson, for example, designed a basket weave top armor dress with 3D loop details along the skirt and shoulders made from hand tie Polycord strapping that was gorgeously assembled. Samantha Palsencia used her intricate origami technique with paper to create a green ombre gown that left spectators in awe. Ladies, I'm talking straight to you, send me those pieces! My definite favorites of the night! All the designers' hard work and struggle didn't go unnoticed. The $1,000 award went to Tania Villareal for an asymmetric dress she dubbed "La Pajarera."
