Newspaper dresses create walk through fashion history

PHIL CAMPBELL — Students in Aleah Harris’ fashion classes created dresses from newspapers with each group picking a different decade.

Senior Ava Hall and sophomore Addy Rogers won the contest with their 1930s-inspired dress.

“We searched on the Chromebooks which one we would like to do the best,” Hall said.

When judges announced the results, Hall said the moment still surprised her.

“I was excited. I thought we had pretty good chances.”

It marked the first time Harris brought the project into her classroom.

Research posters next to the dresses explain the decades and the design choices behind them. The students built the designs from newspapers, folding, shaping and layering pages into skirts, collars, and fitted waists.

“We began this project by researching each decade, starting with the 1900s,” Harris said.

Students studied how silhouettes, necklines and hemlines changed over time, along with accessories, footwear and major fashion influences.

After finishing their research and posters, they moved into the design phase.

Juniors Ryleigh McLemore and Saba Nix created a flapper-style dress inspired by the 1920s. McLemore said she has long been interested in the era’s look.

“All the lights, colors, just how extravagant and how simple at the same time the fashion of that era is,” she said.

McLemore said her favorite part of the dress is the rosette-style elements they added to the skirt.

Sophomore Ella Plumley, senior Makayla Scribe and junior Lily Stewart created a “postwar elegance” dress inspired by the 1950s.

Plumley said the silhouette stood out to her because of its structure and balance. She said it looks like the kind of dress that would be fun to wear.

Makayla Scribe, Ella Plumley and Lily Stewart stand with the dress they made together for their fashion class project at PCHS.

“I like how the skirt is a little bit bigger, and I like how the belt goes around the waist tightly. I enjoy being able to express my creativity,” she said.

Scribe said the sleeves and collar caught her attention first. “My favorite part of working on it was the skirt,” she said.

Stewart said she had never worked on a project like this before but found the process manageable because the group planned their steps ahead of time.

Harris said the biggest challenge came from asking students to treat newspapers like fabric.

“It took some time and patience to figure out how to make the necklines look a certain way,” she said.

She said it also took time and creativity to figure out how to make some of the skirts fuller or have a more tailored look.

“I think they really enjoyed it, and I’m very proud of how each dress turned out,” she said.

Ryleigh McLemore and Saba Nix talk about the dress they made out of newspapers.