Eco Center 11 Grove Street San Francisco, CA Haute Trash was recently invited by the San Francisco Department of the Environment to display our designs at their Eco Center offices, through March and April. What a fabulous opportunity! A great locale, just north of 8th & Market, across from the library. The response from those passing by the windows was overwhelming, even in the short time we were there setting up the display! Our display honors San Francisco's ban on plastic bags, which passed late last year.

HAUTE TRASH takes part in an exhibit: "Composting Good and Evil" (posted February 20, 2008)

"What if we composted our shameless sins, our saintly intentions and our fertile imaginations and pledged to use the resulting fecund glory to redesign and nurture the world? Imagine the change that could grow from a pile of temptation, convenience, guilt, hope and inspiration!" With these words, Haute Trash was recently invited to exhibit photographs in an virtual exhibit being presented by Ethical Metalsmiths, entitled "Composting Good and Evil". The online exhibit began on March 15 and will run for an extended period of time. You may view the exhibit here. The exhibition premiered on March 7, at the Society of North American Goldsmiths annual conference at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Georgia. Digital images were viewed on an outdoor, billboard-sized LED display.

HAUTE TRASH FEATURED ON VISIBLETRASH.NET
(posted February 10, 2008)

Haute Trash was selected as "Trash du Jour" last month on VisibleTrash.net. Check it out, you'll need to scroll down and click on "older entries" to find us, amidst all kinds of great articles about recycled art and fashion. If you're a big fan of trash, you'll want to bookmark this site. Little Shiva and the Visible Trash Society bring you the best in trash! Their motto reads: "Trash? Hell, we call it free art supplies!"

RAYONA VISQUEENS INTERVIEWS WITH "EVERY DAY TRASH"
(posted February 10, 2008)

Also, check out an interview that Robin Worley did last May with EveryDayTrash.com. Robin shares some Haute Trash history, as well as looking towards a future full of trash fashion possibilities!

December 1, 2007
HAUTE TRASH INTERVIEWS FOR PBS SHOW: "ROAD TRIP NATION"

A few months ago, we got an email from a young man named Jonathan Hampton. He and his partner, Saraya Brewer were heading out from Lexington, Kentucky on a road trip across the country, with the intention of interviewing various groups that work towards sustainability. He asked if we would be interested in taking part in his documentary. We, of course, said we'd love to! In late September, Jonathan and Saraya left Seattle and headed for California and the San Juan Ridge. They showed up in their fully loaded Volvo, unpacked a menagerie of camera equipment, and got down to work. On hand to interview with the two were Rayona Visqueen, Elvira Mental, Redusa D'Trash and Prima Debris. We talked a lot about our history, our visions for the future, our designs and our inspiration. Jonathan had contracted with the PBS show, "Road Trip Nation", who will be airing this documentary in the near future. Stay tuned for our PBS debut!

ANOTHER WIN FOR ELVIRA MENTAL WERKS IN ONTARIO!

The designers of Elvira Mental Werks continue to put Haute Trash in the global spotlight!   The most recent example is Shaun Muscolo's Third Place win at a competition in Ontario sponsored by the Windfall Ecology Festival. Shaun's entry was her fabulous wedding gown, a fluffy bridal confection that she knitted from white plastic shopping bags.   Third prize was $500.   Congratulations Shaun!!

The Windfall Ecology Festival show was previously open only to fashion design students from three schools around Ontario, Canada.  This year, Windfall opened their competition to everyone willing to submit design ideas, with a limit of 30 garments that could be accepted.  Elvira Mental Werks entered two designs, Judy Nielsen's "Wired For Sound" and Shaun's prize-winning "White Wedding". The designers sent drawings and designer inspiration statements, hoping to get into the show.  They were very pleased when both of their designs were accepted!

The Windfall judging criteria included:

1) percentage of creatively used recycled material utilized in the outfit
2) creativity
3) quality of workmanship and
4) runway appeal

To learn about this fantastic show, go to Windfall's website.

RAYONA VISQUEEN TAKES FIRST PRIZE IN SEATTLE COMPETITION!

It was April 16 when the New Belgium Brewing Company announced that they were having a trash fashion competition at the Solo Bar, in the Queen Anne district of Seattle. The show was to take place on April 26, so Rayona was quick to ship off her “Addictive Personality Ensemble”, next day air. Receiving the package on the other end was Haute Trash supermodel, Kristie Maxim, a long-time veteran of our many Seattle fashion shows.

Kristie donned the mini skirt made of Camel cigarette packs, the chocolate wrapper bustier, and the crisp bolero jacket made from coffee bags and Haagen Dazs wrappers, and she proceeded to rock the house! At the end of the night, first place was hers! And the prize? A brand new, custom made New Belgium fat tire cruiser bike! Kristie has agreed to turn the bike over to Rayona, but first she’ll get a chance to try it out on the streets of Seattle, while waiting for Rayona to come and get it! Watch for Haute Trash on New Belgium’s “Tour de Fat” this summer!!

NEW ZEALAND "TRASH TO FASHION" COMPETITION!

We were thrilled to be informed that Elvira Mental Werks took second place in the "Moonlight Sonata" category with their piece "Change Through the Ages" (pictured here at left). The dress was made by tediously tying together hundreds of pop tops which were plucked from aluminum cans. The prize was $500 New Zealand dollars (or about $335 back in the states). The design team of Judy Nielsen and Shaun Muscolo sent off four pieces to enter in the competition. All four outfits were accepted into the show, and of the four, THREE made the semi finals! What an honor! They were the first entries ever received from the United States. Their other entries included "Moonlight & Misgivings", a lovely knit evening gown also in the "Moonlight Sonata" category, and "Moulin Rouge", an exquisite piece made from clear yogurt lids that appeared in the "Inorganic" category. A hearty congratulations goes out to Judy and Shaun! The "Trash to Fashion" competition was held in Waitakere, New Zealand. You can learn more about this wonderful international competition, and view the other winners by visiting their website at http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/ArtCul/ae/trashtofashion/index.asp#about

HAUTE TRASH RECEIVES IT'S 501(C)3 STATUS!

Haute Trash: An Artists Collaborative is pleased to announce that after almost a year of waiting, we have finally received our 501(c)3 Tax Exempt status! We are looking forward to networking with our community to solicit involvement in grant writing, as well as financial and artistic endeavors.

“We hope to step things up a notch, in terms of what we can give back to the community”, says designer and vice president Rayona Visqueen (Robin Worley). “Non profit status will enable Haute Trash to better collaborate with existing organizations with similar goals. This collaboration will allow us to further promote sustainable and ecological living, waste reduction, and recycling, through fashion as performance art. We are hoping this growth helps us to continue to educate, empower and entertain our audience, and bring about needed social awareness.” Worley has created links with groups such as International Sustainable Solutions, New Old Time Chautauqua, and the ReStore.

An ongoing objective of HTAC is to create educational projects with childlren and adults. Designer Prima Debris (Kathi Griffis) recently traveled to Milwaukee to lead a workshop in “Non-Fabric Fashion”. The event was held at Discovery World, a brand new experiential, hands-on learning facility that she compares with San Francisco’s Exploratorium. “The building was still under construction, with all kinds of trash and debris everywhere. We hauled a lot of it into the classroom, where it became fodder for fashion. It was truly inspirational, to see such a literal example of taking what was bound for the landfill, and watching these young adults turn it into art, and with such passion!” Griffis is pleased to have gained support from groups such as the Ecological Farming Association, the Food Democracy Alliance, Head Start, St. Vincent de Paul and Protect American River Canyons.

Haute Trash has a long and rich history dating back to the early 1980’s when late founder, Susan Lamela began creating fashion from trash to provide an irreverent look at our disposable society. Today, trash fashion is an idea that has caught on worldwide, and Haute Trash is proud of having been at the forefront of this movement. Three of the new non-profit’s founding members, Griffis, Worley, and Mary Welch feel privileged to have worked with Lamela two decades ago, putting on local shows to sell-out crowds at the Nevada Theatre.

Over the past several years, Haute Trash has expanded up and down the west coast, from Monterey to Seattle, leading it’s founders to understand that non-profit status is necessary to facilitate growth. Designer and president Racey Garbaj (Rachel Garland) is enthusiastic to be involved in the organization at this historical time. “I’m not surprised that Haute Trash has become so popular. About half of the audience feedback that I get includes plans of designs. After a show, people often begin to collect their own trash with visual appeal to give to me”. Garland spent several years at school in Humboldt, where she created links with the North Coast Environmental Center, and the Campus Center for Alternative Technology.

Haute Trash’s future looks bright. We’ve become an integral part of annual events like the Oregon Country Fair, American River Confluence Festival, Seattle’s ReStore Recycled Art Shows, and the Nevada County Fair. Stay tuned to our website for all the latest!