iWed & The Hilton Charlotte Center City

It was September 2013

The Charlotte Fashion Week recycled design competition/show was one of my favorites because it was a breath-of-fresh-air challenge for me. Not designing in fabrics and notions? Using paper, metal, plastic, Lego, computer hard drive actuators, and nonwoven poly suit bags? Sign me up. SIGN. ME. UP. Also, buy me a good scissors because there is a LOT of paper cutting ahead.

Bouquet by Carla Smallridge - She took some of the magazine pages and created this bouquet for the model to carry on the runway.

A photo of the behind the scenes story page in iWed Magazine

After the runway event, the dress lived in the lobby of the magazine office for a few years until the magazine folded. I stopped by to see it once, but never got a photo. I should have, maybe.

A couple of years later in 2016 my friend Sarah told me about this paper dress in the window of the Hilton Center City window promoting weddings to happen at the Hilton. This is a place in Charlotte where thousands of people walk by every day. It's kind of a square where people stop and have lunch, sit and enjoy the open air, walk to work, etc. It's a large area and the window this dress is in is front and center. So I asked Sarah to send me a photo of the window, and sure enough, it was MY DRESS! With the veil and the bouquet and everything - faded from the sun.