Fashion Week, Swap-O-Rama-Rama Style

When it comes to clothing swaps, no one hosts events that are more infamously cool than Swap-O-Rama-Rama (and I'm biased, being a co-founder of The Swapaholics and all.)

Since 2005, Wendy Tremayne and the Creative Commons-enabled Swap-O-Rama-Rama franchisees she's greenlit around the world have been creating forums for swapping, sewing, and stylishly recycling usable clothing — making chic clothing swaps and upcycled fashion a lifestyle trend far before they were ever embraced by hoards of "recessionistas" and haute couture designers.

Since 2008, one such chapter, Swap-O-Rama-Rama (SORR) Chicago, has hosted yearly clothing swap events drawing hundreds of swappers and amateur DIY fashion designers together to swap old clothes for new ones — or to create completely new garments by deconstructing old ones. These upcycled sewing workshops are the element that has always made Swap-O-Rama-Rama unique, and SORR Chicago founder Katie Hawkey is kicking it up a notch further this year.

Starting March 19th, SORR Chicago will host a "whole craftastic weekend of events," beginning with a re:Make Fashion Show on Friday night that features designers of "repurposed" clothing, a two-day clothing swap and upcycled sewing workshop (which Hawkey expects to draw over 500 people, helped by 50 volunteers), and a private Saturday screening of the film Handmade Nation — including an in-person appearance by filmmaker Faythe Levine.

"It's an amazing opportunity for rising indie-designers to get their work seen on the runway," Hawkey said. "We're limiting submissions to Midwestern designers mainly because there are just so many opportunities on the East and West coasts and Midwest designers tend to get left out of the fashion scene. We're trying to include a range of reused, repurposed or upcycled fashion to show the variety of design and focus on more responsible design than just what's in style now and then gets thrown away at the end of the season — while still being stylish, of course. Even if these designers have never worked in re-purposed materials before, this is a great time to start!"

SORR Chicago will be accepting submissions until the end of February from Midwest fashion designers who want to create and showcase pieces or collections in the re:Make Fashion Show using at least 50% reused materials (preferably existing textiles, though textiles made from recycled goods will be considered, too), and will also be looking for Chicago-area volunteers.

Interested? We thought so. Visit Swap O Rama Rama Chicago for tickets or to submit your re:Make Fashion designer application, or check out the SORR Chicago volunteer info session on February 21st to get involved.

If you're not in the Chicago area, follow @SORR_Chicago on Twitter and be sure to watch this short video they created for the re:Make Fashion Show — it's super cute:

Seeking Fashion Designers for re:MAKE Fashion Show in Chicago from Katie Hawkey on Vimeo.

Copyright 2010 Shoestring, LLC. Photo illustration and video: Swap-O-Rama-Rama Chicago/Katie Hawkey