Drama Costume Designers join the Art + Nature initiative at the Laguna Art Museum

Professor Holly Poe Durbin, fellow faculty, staff and students present a sustainable fashion show in collaboration with the Laguna Art Museum

By Haily Lewis-Eastman

On November 2, 2024, in collaboration with the Laguna Art Museum’s (LAM) Art + Nature initiative, Holly Poe Durbin, head of the costume design program in UC Irvine’s Department of Drama, will join faculty, staff, students, and alumni to present Upcycled Couture — a unique collection of sustainably sourced designs. The exhibit showcases 12 creations by 13 designers, each interpreting the missions of local organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. At the exhibit's conclusion, one UC Irvine student will be awarded an internship with local sustainable designer Katharine Story.

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts will host a subsequent showing of Upcycled Couture from November 4–9 in the Experimental Media Performance Lab (xMPL) at the Contemporary Arts Center, where the collection will be open to the general public.

Holly Poe Durbin is a key contributor to the Art + Nature initiative at LAM. She walks us through the conception of this event, the definition of Upcycled Couture, and the incredible network involved. 

Q: Your collection, Art + Nature: Upcycled Couture – Wearable Art for a Livable Planet, collaborates across disciplines, organizations and artists. Can you share how this project came to be? 

Holly Poe Durbin (HPD): Maybe a year ago, I did a talk at the Laguna Art Museum. They often bring in local experts and I talked about the clothing that appeared in the paintings of a particular artist that they were doing an exhibition on. I enjoyed myself so much and enmeshed myself quickly in the community. We wanted to find ways to collaborate further and include the students in local projects. We didn't know what that thing could be until this summer. There were several of us from the museum in a room determined to come up with an event. 

At the museum, they do an annual festival called Art + Nature. They wanted something tailored to that theme and so we cooked up the idea of a fashion show of upcycled clothing to honor the nature aspect of that exhibition. 

We even brought aboard Katharine Story; a well-known sustainable fashion designer based in Laguna Beach. Her clothing can be seen in fashion shows in Milan. The criteria for those shows are very strict. You have to tell where your water came from and how you recycle your materials. It's extensive. We borrowed from that established culture and added the component of pairing our designers with community partners of the museum. 

Q: How do you see this collection engaging with consumer bias around shopping secondhand? 

HPD: The dichotomy of it all is what I really appreciate. We are quick to associate Haute Couture with the finest materials. Yet in this case, we’ve taken what would otherwise be thrown away and turned it into wearable art. 

Q: How is this collection different from other designs and projects you’ve been a part of in the past? 

HPD: Costume design is very scripted. You have a story, you have a script, you have a writer, and this is completely unscripted. What is so different, and what I'm enjoying about this, is it’s coming from an art perspective rather than an entertainment one. Everyone’s voice is going to be a little bit stronger than it would be in costume design. There, you have a director, performers and other parameters that may guide which direction you head with your work. 

In this case, each designer put together a mood board that captured the essence of what they discussed with their partner organization after their initial meeting. Many also did a fashion sketch so that they could collaborate on what direction to go in. The only other requirement was that the designers define what their materials are, as well as why they are sustainable. 

One designer is using thrifted garments and upcycling them into something that the original manufacturers never imagined. Another designer is using papier-mâché to make a garment out of old newspapers. There's just a huge, huge array. 

Image: Department of Art alumnus Jayla Aldridge designing for Upcycled Couture. Photo courtesy of Laguna Art Museum.

Mariangeles Soto-Diaz is an art lecturer at UC Irvine and a faculty contributor to the event. Soto-Diaz discusses collaboration across communities, her hopes for the presentation and beyond. 

Q: How will you measure the success of this exhibit? 

Mariangeles Soto-Diaz (MSD): I see this exhibit and partnership with the Laguna Art Museum as an important opportunity to get artists, students and viewers more involved with thinking about sustainability. These issues are increasingly urgent and there is exciting work happening in this area across arts and higher education.

Just last week, I attended a conference by the Partnership on Academic Leadership in Sustainability (PALS), a national organization bringing together artists and designers who work in higher education to explore new ways of integrating sustainability with diversity, equity and inclusion. I am also teaching a course at the UC Irvine Department of Art on sustainability in art practice, in which students learn about historical and current practices in the field while also developing their artistic projects with found, re-used and low-carbon materials.

We also take field trips to explore facilities on campus as well as to the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in OC, to gain a more embodied understanding of where our daily waste goes. All these efforts in education and collaborative partnerships like the LAM show are ongoing, long-term efforts and while it is difficult to measure their success in the short term, they are crucial projects that I’m excited to be part of as we transform our field in response to the urgency of climate change. 

Q: How has this experience informed you as an artist and educator? 

MSD: One of the main ideas of this LAM show of eco-fashion was to reuse materials and to make designs with an ecologically minded creative approach inspired in part by the work of local organizations such as the Environmental Nature Center. My CTSA colleague Holly Poe Durbin and I have been working with the LAM and facilitating work with the designers. Part of my role was to introduce a critical perspective by suggesting that we regard sustainability not just in terms of consumption and surplus but also through understanding a particular material's cycle, like its history and industrial production. 

Image: Photo courtesy of Laguna Art Museum.

Matthew Martinez is an alumnus of UC Irvine and one of the 13 designers for this event. He elaborates on his time at UC Irvine, how he interpreted his partners’ mission and what materials he worked with. 

Q: Can you talk about your experience collaborating as an alum? 

Matthew Martinez (MM): Holly Poe Durbin was a mentor to me at UC Irvine, and when she reached out to me to be a designer, I knew it would be something I'd enjoy. I’ve kept in touch with Holly since graduating, and I was grateful for the chance to work with her and other fondly remembered faculty members. The ability to collaborate is one of the things I learned as a design student, and in many ways, this exhibit felt full circle. 

Q: Can you discuss your design process and what was the mission that inspired your unique piece? 

MM: I was paired with the Boys & Girls Club, specifically collaborating with their art program. Every Monday, they have “Art for the Heart,” a time to focus on self-expression and foster growth around identity while exploring it artistically. That's what I tried to tap into in my design. I wanted to capture that sense of freedom that is inherent in art. It lives within you, within your veins, it’s rooted.

It was this imagery that led me to incorporate aspects of a tree into my design. One of the materials I am using a lot of is electrical cording. I found it by the river and brought it home during my Sunday walk. I collected two Ikea bags full of it and spent time getting to know the material before manipulating it. 

Isabel Toteda is an undergraduate student and a designer for the fashion show. Toteda reflects on her creative process and collaboration across disciplines. 

Q: Can you talk about your experience being a student designer for this exhibit? 

Isabel Toteda (IT): As a designer for this fashion show, I have been able to learn more about the community members around the UC Irvine and Laguna Beach areas, as well as experience a glimpse into the world of fashion. I am honored to have been a part of this project and am excited to share it with the UC Irvine community when we move the exhibit here. 

Q: What have you learned working on this interdisciplinary project? 

IT: As a part of the costume design program here at UC Irvine, something that has been interesting about this project is that we are designing based on broader themes and concepts as opposed to character traits and actions in a specific context. The organization that I am partnered with for this project is Laguna Greenbelt, Inc. and it’s been fun to think of how to translate their organization's mission into a garment. 

Upcycled Couture will also be on view at UC Irvine from November 4-9, 2024, and is free and open to the public. This project is also made possible by Claire Trevor School of the Arts costume shop manager Jenn Dugan. To learn more about Art + Nature at LAM, visit their website here. For more information and tickets to Upcycled Couture, visit here.