THE PREP Jamie Renee Smith ’08 is not your typical fashionista. And with just 24 dollars and 24 hours to
By Peter B. Weston
Oct 11, 2006
THE PREP
Jamie Renee Smith ’08 is not your typical fashionista. And with just 24 dollars and 24 hours to create the perfect outfit, she is ready to be unpredictable.
After receiving her budget, Smith dons her inline skates, red-checkered trousers, an old Abercrombie and Fitch tank (found doing dorm crew), and an army fatigue jacket with matching bowling cap, and skates over to her favorite locale for finding rare and precious accoutrements: the Goodwill store in Central Square.
After returning to the Quad a few hours later, Smith looks over her findings: a red polka dot dress (aka, the ladybug dress), a child’s snow suit, shiny silver sunglasses, a black spandex running top, and thick industrial thread. With her shopping finished, Smith is done for the day. She straps on her ever-trusty rollerblades, and speeds off to a concert.
The next morning, a groggy-eyed and runny-nosed Smith, hung-over and still in the clothes she had worn the night before, opts for an early a.m.nap before beginning her creation.
“I’m the poster child for just woke up,” she says. An hour later, she’s ready to work.
And work she does. Midway through the morning, Smith has already cut her lady-bug dress in half to make a shirt and skirt. She sews the cotton filler into the hem of the skirt and folds the fabric over, causing it to flare out sharply. Using her thick grey thread, she bunches up the material to create a curtain-like, drappage look.
“It’s totally janky,” Smith says. “I’m out of style, in style.”
By noon, Smith has moved on to the top half of her outfit, hand sewing the hems on the top and cutting the spandex shirt into leggings.
“I like the Raggedy Anne style—so clearly homemade,” said Smith. “I don’t trust sewing machines.”
With less than an hour to go, the top is done. After crafting earrings out of left over dress material as the Talking Heads blast in the background, Smith speedily puts the finishing touches on her skirt.
“I like things bulky, un-even and off-kilter, in a balanced sort of way,” Smith says. “I want to encourage people to know that they can make things themselves.”
Completed couture in hand, Smith is out the doors atop her ‘Blades.
“This dress is cash,” she says.
24 dollars of cash, to be exact.
OVERALL SCORES
Aesthetics/Style: 8.5
Creativity: 9.25
Craftsmanship: 8.75
Je ne sais quoi: 7.25
Overall: 8.4375
