Five students in Colorado Mountain College’s (CMC) soft goods sewing and design program have been immersed in a special project for the past month — one that transforms the magic, intrigue and energy of the circus into handmade runway-ready statements.
This is CMC’s third year submitting a line for the Carbondale Arts Fashion Show. The sold-out 15th annual show, “Step Right Up,” will transform the Carbondale Recreation Center into a glamorous home of wonder from March 12-14.
CMC’s collection, titled “Dirty Circus,” twists classic circus characters into “dirty” caricatures.
“It’s playing with the dirty colors, dirty finishing, and then also playing with dirty, ‘naughty,’ so like little butt cheek cutouts, some torso available,” Julianna Reese, a CMC adjunct professor who co-teaches the sewing and design course, said, explaining how she came up with the theme for her students. “I was playing with the idea that carnivals and circuses aren’t always as clean and bright as we want.”
Each of the students, and sewing and design course co-professor Cecilia Metheny, selected a classic circus image and began transforming it into a grungy, cheeky and glamorous outfit. Gigi Rascon chose the big top, Julie Wille chose a snake charmer, Nicole Nagel Gogolak chose a jester, Metheny chose a ring master, Elizabeth Shaw chose a clown and Sedona Crouch chose a white tiger.
“(Sedona) is really interested in more sculptural masks and that’s why she wanted a tiger,” Reese said. “Julie, who is doing the snake charmer, found a tent and a tennis racket at the dump and was like, ‘What can I do with these?’ and that’s where she found the snake charmer.”
Rascon has been in CMC’s soft goods program for two years. She first picked up a needle when she was about 6 years old and began sewing her father’s socks.
“I played with my dolls a lot, and I remember that I would make clothes with Play-Doh, and eventually baby wipes, and then my father’s socks again,” Rascon said. “It was mainly Barbie clothes and (then I) started working from there.”
This year marks her second time creating a piece for the Carbondale Arts Fashion Show.
She chose the image of the big top and fashioned a skirt that mimics the silhouette of the classic tent, complimented by hands parting the skirt’s messy front. The skirt will be paired with shorts, a bra and six-inch heels.
Rascon, who describes herself as “very nocturnal,” has spent many late nights perfecting her design over the past month.
Although creative blocks posed a challenge for her throughout the process, her favorite part of designing is watching the outfit come to life, one scrap of cloth at a time.
“Sometimes during the process, it’s like, ‘oh, my, this is not gonna work out,’” Rascon said. “But once you see it together, it’s worth it.”
After graduating, Rascon plans to take a gap year before heading to college in New York for fashion and design — a goal she says CMC’s program pushed forward.
“I’ve known I’ve always wanted to do that, but to really learn more about it and get more hands on sparked it,” Rascon said. “It’s like ‘Oh my god, this is all so broad, I want to learn.’ You get hungry for it.”
Reese, who has been acting as an extra pair of eyes for the students, will also be debuting a solo line at this year’s show.
Titled “Treat Yourself,” Reese’s line is a collection of four outfits that each transform a traditional gown silhouette into carnival food.
“I saw the theme was carnival and my first thought was about corn dogs — just walking around a fair with a corn dog — and I was like, how could I make that a line?” Reese said. “Then I thought about the other foods that are very iconically carnival and circus.”
Each outfit is a provocative interpretation of a beloved carnival food: a corn dog, funnel cake, popcorn and cotton candy.
“It’s a play on words,” Reese said. “So both treat yourself with the food that you probably shouldn’t eat and then (it’s) also a little sexy treat yourself.”
Reese created her corndog look using a brown wool coat she found and cut up into a pencil dress.
“It’s a princess-seamed pencil dress, and then the back laces up with red and yellow to be ketchup and mustard,” Reese said. “It leaves a little peak of (the model’s) booty.”
The most challenging part of the project for Reese was creating the necessary structure required for each silhouette (except for the corn dog).
“Finding creative ways to make that structure on a low budget while also being sustainable has been a fun challenge,” Reese said. “I (used) hangers to make a tutu for the funnel cake, (I used) weird things.”
Both Reese and Rascon are looking forward to seeing how “Dirty Circus” comes together onstage at the fashion show.
“I love seeing my students see their ideas come to life and the reaction that it gets,” Reese said. “That’s its own reward in itself.”