“Couloir Couture”Karen Holm, the co-founder of Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, designed this garment, worn by eighth-grade student Kaci Alderin. The garment uses cloth napkins, climbing webbing and an old linen sheet.Courtesy Tambi Lane

Imagine a world in which you could reach not into your dresser or closet for that day’s outfit, but rather your garbage or mixed-item recycling bin.

It would be awesome, right? Waste not, want not, indeed.

That isn’t quite how the clothes being modeled Thursday at the fourth annual Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show (see “If you go”) were born. The spirit of creative upcycling and stewardship of the planet gave rise to the event, according to Amy Anderson of REALMS, the Central Oregon charter school benefiting from the fundraiser.

Part of the school’s mission is to help students “become stewards of the human and natural world,” so, said Anderson, “we … wanted a fundraiser that spoke to some of the values of our school, like living sustainably and a little lighter on the planet.”

Those ideas coalesced into Rubbish Renewed in 2010. Financially, the event benefits REALMS — which stands, by the way, for Rimrock Expeditionary Alternative Learning Middle School — but the entire community also profits from it in other ways, Anderson said.

“The vehicle of the fashion show lends itself really well to involving the community, and that was important to us,” she said. “(We’re) definitely trying to get people to just consider a lot of our unconscious choices, or our consumption and waste. And we thought a trash fashion show would be a fun and creative way to illustrate that.”

There are a couple of new things to note about the fourth Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show, for which used items including old cloth napkins, product packaging and inner tubes have been repurposed into articles of clothing: the date and location.

Previously held in December at the Century Center, the event has moved, of course, to January, and into a new home at the Armory.

The rest, as they say, is old hat. Well, a new hat fashioned from old stuff.

The runway show features garments by local designers as well as students from area schools and is being presented in two installments. The all-ages 6 p.m. show is intended to highlight participating kids, with some 28 students representing nine schools on the runway.

The 8:30 p.m. show is for folks ages 21 and older and is more of an adult experience. “It’s not racy,” Anderson said. “We actually say it’s a PG show. We’re just trying to create a night out for adults.”

In addition to the spectacle of models wearing what was once garbage, the event will include a live and silent auction, a marketplace for local artists to show and sell their creations, as well as food and drink.

Ninety percent of each garment is composed of material that otherwise would have landed in landfills.

In past years, designers have repurposed all manner of objects, from the blue fabric of above-ground swimming pools to material from an old tipi. One year, a designer melted old 45 rpm vinyl records to make something for the show.

“People are pretty creative, and we’ve managed to create really high quality on the runway,” Anderson said. “It’s diverse abilities, from the kid who’s creating their first dress to adult designers who have made multiple pieces.”

Over the years, Anderson has seen plenty of models saunter down the catwalk wearing renewed rubbish. Has she had a favorite piece?

“The ones I like the most are the ones when I’m not sure, right away, what the material is because the artist has taken the material and transformed it into something that’s unrecognizable,” she said. “There’s lots of stuff on the runway that you’re going to be like, ‘Oh, those are milk cartons,’ or ‘Those are plastic bags.’ But when you’re looking going, ‘What is that?,’ those are the best ones.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com