An event alert was posted on Glam.com for Revamped, an upscale fashion & art show held near UIC in Chicago. Behind the glam were many dedicated volunteers supporting Earth Share of Illinois. They represent over 60 leading environmental and conservation organizations making a difference locally, nationally and internationally. I attended with friends last night, and what a venue!  The old Spiegel catalog warehouse was the setting.

We entered through the big pull-up delivery doors at the back of the building, and had a conversation with the volunteer at the door who happened to be a Chicago policeman.  He informed us that he remembers being a kid at the time that the big news was a murder at this facility.  One of the men stayed late to rob the place, and killed two people there. What a way to add to the already interesting atmosphere!

Here is the huge freight elevator we rode up to the top floor for the event:

Looking up into the elevator shaft:

Coming into the space, and looking down the runway:

Runway model, we guessed this must be a recycled wedding dress.  Pretty cute!

There were also several art displays, based on re-purposing materials.  My favorite was an artist, Carrie Ann Shumacher, who utilized paper to create beautiful dresses.  From far they looked like silk, or lace, and up close, you could see they were created with pieces of books or magazines.

Here is a detail from a dress created from the pages of romance novels.  I came closer to see if I could read parts of the pages, and the Carrie told me that she did arrange the dress according to topic – and the “hot” scenes from the novels were at the ruffles of the shoulder.

See more of Carrie’s   work:  http://carrieannschumacher.com/harlequin.html

Since the purpose of the event was “Re-purposing”, the setting reflected that aim appropriately.  The bars, tables, and dj stand were all created from pallets and leftover pieces of construction wood.  It was amazingly elegant.  Here is the link to their website, where I’m sure more photos will be posted: http://earthshare-illinois.org/revamped/  What a fun event!  Mark your calendars for next year!