Art2Wear rocks Reynolds

Art2Wear rocked Reynolds Coliseum Tuesday night, bringing innovative designs from College of Textiles and College of Design students to life and to the stage.

In its 11th year, the event gave 18 student designers a showcase for transformational creations. Models wore dresses made of balloons, toilet paper, seashells, maps and other unconventional elements.

“There’s a heavy emphasis on experimental materials even though these come out to be garments,” said Charles Joyner, professor of art and design. “And on the runway sitting some 50 feet, 75 feet, 100 yards away, you don’t see that, you don’t get the fact of all the intricate handwork that’s gone on.”

Art2Wear began in a design student’s room more than a decade ago. As its popularity grew, it moved to a courtyard outside Kamphoefner Hall and the Court of North Carolina before settling at Reynolds.

Veronica Tibbitts, a senior in design and textiles, participated in her third Art2Wear Tuesday. Her first two go-rounds — highlighted by dresses made of roadkill and metal air filters — sparked an addiction, she said. This year, Tibbitts worked beeswax, animal bones and rose petals into designs inspired by human rituals: first love, coming of age and sacrifice.

“I think it was sort of a retrospective of my life to this point because I’m graduating and I’m thinking about the major rites that I’ve passed through up until this point,” she said.

See designs from Tibbitts and her fellow designers: