Growing Season: Local Artists Turn Trash to Treasure in Meow Wolf Trashion Show

Gary Adrian Randall lived in New York for nine years and felt creatively stifled there. "But when I moved to Denver, there was this self-expression that I feel like everybody portrayed," he says. "You could see it in the murals when you drive around, just that homegrown artwork that people create."

Randall has since formed his own creative collective, Haus of Other, and is working his artistic muscles as one of fourteen designers featured in Meow Wolf Denver's next trashion show. Absolute Rubbish: Growing Season on Friday, May 30, is a blend of performance art and fashion extravaganza, with all of the looks on the runway made out of trash and sustainable materials.

Meow Wolf's trashion show is part of a growing culture of sustainable fashion in Denver, in which people are buying secondhand clothing from thrift and vintage stores and upcycling their outfits DIY-style instead of purchasing new clothes and supporting the environmentally detrimental trend of fast fashion.

For the Meow Wolf event, each designer will create one intricate design for the runway following the "Growing Season" theme. In typical fashion show format, the designers work with models, who will show off their designs on the runway. But what makes Absolute Rubbish different from other fashion shows is that the models will each get three minutes to perform on the runway.

Randall, who also participated in Meow Wolf Denver's December trashion show, says that for this edition, he wanted to honor his Chinese heritage, so he's creating a cherry blossom tree costume. When his model, a performer who goes by MotherDaddy, walks out, the costume will just look like a cherry blossom tree at first. "But the transformation comes when they release the roots that create a train," he advises.

Meanwhile, multimedia artist Andrea Fischer is considering her design from a new angle for Growing Season, which will be her third time participating in a Meow Wolf trashion show. "This time around, I’m using some of my own garbage," she says. "I use recycled materials as much as possible with my own work, so I’m kind of forcing myself to utilize scraps that I wouldn’t even use in my everyday work. In the past, I’ve used other people’s garbage, and this time I’m forcing myself to take a look at my own waste as a recycled artist."

That has translated to a colorful two-piece set made out of small patchwork scraps of fabric, broken chain pieces and broken zippers and clips, which Fischer says will be modeled by one of her favorite drag queens, Raquelle C. Schelle.
"Every year, I am even more blown away," Fischer says of the show. "I’m so incredibly impressed with how much work and effort the designers put into this. The way they are able to transform some of these materials is so creative. We ask each other, 'How in the world did you do this?' and 'Where did you find that?' My favorite part is being backstage with the other designers and models."

Randall likes the sentiment behind creating art out of whatever is around. "I grew up pretty poor, but my mom always encouraged us to create art, so we just made art out of whatever we could find, whether that was her dresses from the '70s or curtains off the walls," he says.

For his cherry blossom tree costume, Randall says it felt like the crafting gods were looking out for him, because he was able to find everything he needed around his home — from specific colors of spray paint to branches and foam. "The cherry blossoms themselves are made out of spoons and a tablecloth," he says. "I had some spoons left over from a party I threw. The branches I’m using to make the actual tree out of were a leftover broken Christmas decoration that I glued together and reformatted. My brother just dumped off a bunch of foam one day that they were giving away at his work."

Both Fischer and Randall make conscious efforts to be sustainable in their everyday work. Fischer, whose colorful yarn sculptures have been winding their way around Denver, loves to use donated materials and supplies she finds at ReCreative, a nonprofit secondhand art-supplies store in the Art District on Santa Fe. Randall dumpster dives and likes going to ARC on Saturdays, when a lot of items are half-off.

"There are so many things you can get from a thrift store, even in terms of fabric," he says. "I like going to the thrift store and trying to find my materials there; you’re creating something out of something that would’ve been thrown away."

Fischer can attest to the growing sustainable fashion scene in the Mile High City. "I recently started doing sewing classes, and they’re selling out, and it’s truly because people want to fix their own clothing," she says. "I just can’t help but think it’s also a reflection of our economy."

Supporting sustainable fashion is important because not only does it keep textiles out of landfills, "but we're also keeping money in our community and especially our neighborhoods," she adds.

Randall hopes that Growing Season will give people creative inspiration. "When people see my flowers, they’ll be like, 'That was a spoon,'" he says. "I think it can get people’s creative juices flowing and show how these designers are taking everyday objects and turning them into something completely different and beautiful."
He adds that while the nationwide closing of Joann Fabrics stores might not seem political to some people, "to crafters and makers, it’s a huge blow. I think this show will show us we don’t need Joann Fabrics specifically, and that there are other places to source materials and create beautiful things."

The trashion show was started in Denver by Meow Wolf costume designer Kate Major, and it's since spread to other Meow Wolf locations around the country. Major doesn't live in Denver anymore, but will be coming back for Growing Season as one of the designers featured in the show.

"I just think that Meow Wolf has done a good job of creating things like this that are accessible and exciting," Randall says. "You’ll see some beautiful creations and true artists at work, but also it’s a space for celebration, and we need that more than ever now that, politically, the arts are being challenged and defunded. So any company like Meow Wolf or Haus of Other that’s striving to create more art, more beauty and giving people something to do and something to focus on besides all the negativity in the world is a very worthwhile endeavor. It’s important to support the arts now more than ever."

Absolute Rubbish: Growing Season, 8 p.m. Friday, May 30, in The Perplexiplex at Meow Wolf Denver's Convergence Station, 1338 1st Street. Doors open at 7 p.m. and an afterparty will take place at Sips (with a Z);  check meowwolf.com for ticket options.