As part of the week-long GreenFest celebrations San Diego State student organizations and societies walked down a Twister-padded runway to model apparel made from 100-percent recycled materials. On Tuesday night, clad in fitted dresses made from newspapers or nothing but a cardboard box, models competed for the grand prizes: $500 in SDSU attire and $250 for Aztec Shops.
“The teams like to compete a lot, so it has definitely been a little rough, especially with the ones that butt heads a little bit more, like the fraternities and sororities,” GreenFest co-chair Taylor Stack said.
In addition to the fashion contest, groups also premiered “green-themed” music videos, in separate categories. Both of hese competitions helped teams accumulate points to win.
In their music video, the men of Sigma Chi rapped about unplugging chargers, turning off lights when leaving rooms and dispensing at recycling containers. Other groups played with hit-song lyrics such as Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop,” rewriting each with eco-conscious approaches.
Phi Gamma Delta, known as FIJI, won the music video competition. Alpha Phi and Andres Bonifacio Samahan came in second and third place, respectively.
“I really hope SDSU picks up at all we are doing in GreenFest and takes notes,” criminal justice freshman Isaac De Cesare, who modeled for FIJI, said.
One of the six fashion show judges, who is a hairstylist and owner of Tailored Hair for Men, Lizzy Becknell said more schools should follow the example SDSU sets through GreenFest.
“This generation is truly the one to take a stand for everything with purpose, like this green movement,” Becknell said. “Seeing all of the students is like seeing the next leaders. If I see it here, hopefully it will transpire in the rest.”
The groups were judged on creativity and craftsmanship; ability to follow guidelines and incorporate the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social and economic) with stage presence.
Three models per group, each representing one of the three pillars of sustainablity, walked down the aisle in front of cheering students and sponsors.
“Because we had to fill the outfits into the three different categories, it was a little tougher,” pre-business freshmen CJ Wessel said.
Wessel designed three dresses for Delta Gamma—one made entirely of newspapers, another out of coffee filters and a last one out of an old statistics manual.
Modeling a wedding dress made of plastic bags and a recycled Twister mat, liberal studies junior Amy Shea walked to the end of the runway, turned away from the audience and threw her bouquet at the crowd. Her team, the SDSU Ambassadors, won the fashion show.
“We worked really hard on these costumes,” communications senior and SDSU Ambassador Kodi Bobier said. “It was exhilarating, especially because this year they actually did a runway, so that was way more fun. My heart was pumping, but it was awesome.”
Alpha Phi Omega and FIJI won second and third place in the fashion show.
