Paly’s Social Justice Pathway hosted its Junk Kouture fashion show at the Haymarket Theatre on Monday. Participating students used recycled materials to create their outfits based on a country they selected.

Austin Davis, the SJP teacher of Cohort 10, said he originally planned not to do this event but moved forward with the project due to overwhelming support from students.

“I heard it was so complicated, and there were so many moving parts,” Davis said. “But then I had so many students in the cohort who said that this was the reason why they joined SJP, and so that’s why I thought, ‘Okay, well, we should do it then if that’s why you’re here.’ And I’m pretty glad we did because it’s been a really cool learning experience.”

Davis said this event was a project for the Contemporary World History class, in which the students conducted in-depth research on one country, developed a metaphor for that country and designed an outfit that reflects and symbolizes the metaphor.

“These outfits are supposed to symbolize something essential about the history of these countries and the people in these countries,” Davis said.

Sophomore Liam Li said he enjoyed working with his cohort to design the clothing pieces out of donations.

“I’m actually working with everyone and the materials, and just building something awesome out of people’s trash,” Li said. “It just makes it super fun and engaging, and it’s like, ‘Wow, you’re actually making a positive impact but while also doing such a cool project.’”

Sophomore Harrison Lan said throughout the process, he learned the importance of planning ahead to create successful pieces with his group.

“Designing is the most important part because, without a good design plan, you can’t get anything done,” Lan said. “We need to work on that next time because our design was very floppy, and if we had a stronger design, it would have flowed together more nicely.” 

Lan said he felt very accomplished and is looking forward to showcasing his work.

“I’m super excited to see (my model) walk down the stage and how he poses and flows down the aisle,” Lan said. “Being in the audience really changes your perspective because you see your own work being presented.”

Sophomore Devon Kardwell said the cohesiveness of their cohort made designing the Indonesia dress more fun and helped calm her nerves before modeling it.

“I was so scared before and just had all these nerves when I was walking up, and I just hear the teachers screaming, the other students screaming, all the parents screaming, and it just makes you so happy because you’re scared that you’re gonna fall and it just takes away all of these, and it’s just so fun,” Kardwell said.

But sophomore Lillian Zhao, whose group designed an outfit to represent the Philippines, said the outfit was based on how the country is united yet very diverse.

“An albino peacock looks like one color, but it has multicolored feathers that come out, because the Philippines appears to be one country, but it was originally made of many different ethnicities and cultures,” Zhao said.

Sophomore Kailia Leming said even though they didn’t get much time to work on their dresses, she enjoyed the project-based learning approach.

“Our metaphor is along the lines of ‘Argentina is strong like the birds,’ and so the top was supposed to represent a toucan, and the wings were supposed to be a toucan too,” Leming said. “We were trying to find a way to make the wings cute, so we just covered them in flowers. And then the bottom half is more like a skirt — it’s supposed to be ruffles like a traditional Argentinian dress.”

Davis said this production was completely student-run, and the uniqueness of each design is his favorite part.

“It’s amazing learning and something that you don’t really get to do all the time in school, and so that’s what I really love about this project,” Davis said.

Paly parent Maggie Ma said the creativity of the show surprised her because every model had a dress that used different materials to represent their country.

“Every model came out, and it’s just a surprise some of the materials they use, and it’s amazing,” Ma said. “I was surprised that a class project would be at this scale, and it’s just so much fun. It makes the high school activities seem really fun and educational — they did something, and they learned about each country.”