08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Festival of Arts runway fashion show returns to make recycling cool
Putting together an outfit can be an art form in its own right, the wheels turning in our heads as we figure out what to wear and what the occasion calls for.
Decisions, decisions.
The Festival of Arts runway fashion show, returning Sunday for its 16th year, has seen artists make a choice to step outside of their comfort zone, or at least away from their traditional means of artistic expression.
Exhibiting artists volunteer their talent and time to come up with creative and sustainable wardrobes worthy of walking the runway. All entries must use recycled, reclaimed and repurposed materials.
Scheduled to run from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday, the fashion show is yet another opportunity for the exhibitors to test themselves in front of a panel of judges and the court of public opinion.
Sculptors Jonathan Boyd and Valerie Killeen, first-time exhibitors in the Festival of Arts, are teaming up for the show. The San Clemente residents are jumping in with both feet, not unlike when the married couple met on a blind date some 15 years ago.
Boyd, a woodturner, has been working with reclaimed California redwood from a decommissioned water tank.
'The entire dress, all the petals, I took the 2-inches-thick-by-10-inches-wide [face] and cut really thin veneers off the front of it,' Boyd said. 'Then we soak all the pieces in water, and then we're able to bend it without the pieces breaking. Once it dries, it maintains that shape, and then we're able to glue them together.'
So who will be modeling the dress? Boyd lit up when he revealed what is sure to be a crowd pleaser. His 6-year-old niece Quinne will walk the runway as the 'Redwood Princess.'
'Our little niece, she just runs around, wants to do cartwheels in it and stuff,' Boyd said with a smile. 'Obviously, we stopped that, but she runs around, and she practiced her little twirl, and she picked a song that she wants to play.'
Quinne will step out in her new dress to Justin Timberlake's 'Can't Stop the Feeling,' the couple said.
Killeen had some experience as an apparel designer, but going from working with textiles to redwood was a test.
'Having worked with textiles, it completely drapes in a different way,' she said. 'Using a material that has zero drape whatsoever and trying to get it to have some structure but also movement and somewhat wearable was kind of a fun challenge.'
Featured exhibitors participating in the fashion show this year also include jewelry artist Linda Potichke, printmaker Anne Moore, and ceramicists Paula Collins and Mark Hendrickson.
Potichke, a Detroit native who moved to Laguna Beach in 1978, has been juried into the Festival of Arts fine art show for 38 consecutive years, working primarily with 18-karat gold.
It won't be her first time participating in the fashion show, but she has had her fill of walking the runway. When told of Quinne's impending debut, she remarked, 'I can tell you right now, she'll be the winner. I can't wait to see that.'
Potichke has prepared a full-length gown she produced from black trash bags, upholstery fabric, ribbon and bamboo skewers.
After Elizabeth McGhee, an oil painter, made a dress from socks last year, it's hard to underestimate what an artist may find around the house to put to use. In 2023, Potichke created a vest using a combination of lids from her cat's food containers and more than 200 flowers.
Potichke credits her late parents with instilling in her a passion for aesthetics and function, she said. Her father, Daniel, was a mechanical engineer, while her mother, Isabelle, was responsible for giving her the 'sewing itch.'
'Can you imagine an artist who can't draw? That would be me, but I'm really good with spatial relations,' she said.
'I'll be watching a movie or eating dinner, and all of a sudden, a ring will show up in my mind,' Potichke added. 'I look at it in my mind from every angle, and then I build it in my mind, and I work out any engineering issues. Then I sit down and do a lot of math, so when I put my hands on the gold, I know exactly what I need to do.
'Every single time, it's turned out to be exactly what popped into my head to start with, and that's the passion. That's the excitement.'
There was a notable synergy between the Pageant of the Masters, the tableaux vivant production held inside the Irvine Bowl, and the fashion show last year. The pageant theme, 'À La Mode: The Art of Fashion' seemingly invited that collaboration, and there was a tremendous response to the use of live actors.
In a continuation of providing new elements to the event, junior artists have been invited to participate in the fashion show for the first time.
'Last year's inclusion of pageant live actors was such a hit, and this year we're replacing it with another exciting first — the debut of our junior fashion show, featuring young designers creating outfits from recycled materials,' said Sharbie Higuchi, director of marketing and public relations for the Festival of Arts. 'I think audiences will be inspired by the creativity and fresh perspective these junior artists bring to the runway.'
The participating junior artists include Sofia Guerrero and Lauren Lee, both of whom are in ninth grade, Makana Johnson (seventh grade) and Quinn Riley (sixth grade).
Art and fashion enthusiasts can gain entry into the Festival of Arts, including the fashion show, on Sunday with a donation of a gently-used clothing item at the gate. The promotion is good for one admission per person and part of a partnership with Working Wardrobes.
