Students Upcycle Dresses For A Good Cause

A Global Fashion student, who has blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail, and is wearing a black hoodie and cropped top, stands in front of a rack of colorful dresses holding a blue and a white prom dress in each hand and smiling for the camera.
A Cinderella Prom Dress Event—in support of a campus-based “Grab and Go” program that provides free snacks for students—offered affordable formalwear while reducing the amount of fashion waste in the environment

Students in our Global Fashion Studies and Retail programs recently held a Cinderella Prom Dress Event—giving fancy dresses a second life in support of a campus-based “Grab and Go” program that provides snacks and drinks free of charge to students.

“This is a fantastic way of providing scholars with low cost options for dresses while at the same time funding a fantastic program that ensures none of our scholars are hungry,” said Career & Technical School Principal Shelette Pleat.

Fashion students spent the past couple of weeks preparing the mostly prom and bridesmade dresses—ironing and steaming them and, in a few cases, making minor repairs. In some instances, the 100+ gowns were given to students free of charge, but most of the students paid the nominal fee of $5

“It’s a great opportunity to provide people with affordable options and to get more experience working in the industry,” said Mahdia Mehr, a fashion student from Schenectady.

“It’s great to help people out with affordable options and to reduce the amount of waste in the environment,” added classmate Cody Lawrence of Schalmont.

Global Fashion Studies Teacher Chloe Perazzelli said re-using the dresses is a fantastic way of helping the environment. 

“Fashion is one of the biggest polluting industries and this is a fantastic way to upcycle garments that would otherwise end up in a landfill,” Perazzelli said.

Learn more about our Global Fashion Studies and Retail Programs

Recruitment is underway for the 2022-23 school year. Learn More About Our Global Fashion Studies program and the other 40+ programs offered through our Career & Technical School.