While considering sustainability in their Arts and Innovation class,Chesapeake Academy’s middle school designers considered the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

Students examined the realities of fast fashion, including its environmental consequences, labor practices, and social implications.

“Through documentary discussion and Socratic Seminar, sixth through eighth grade students analyzed issues such as pollution, waste, overproduction, wages, and other ethical concerns. Some even made meaningful connections to the local Chesapeake Bay watershed and our place in the global community,” explained Parham Neal-Pishko, CA’s Arts & Innovation Coordinator.

As an outgrowth of this study, student designers embraced upcycling with found materials to create a wearable or functional art piece inspired by their lessons. Using reused, recycled, or repurposed materials from the HUB, home, recycling, trash, and other discarded sources, student designers creatively responded to the challenge. Skills like hand sewing, knitting, braiding, sewing using a machine, and paper mâché transformed concepts into products.

The finished designs walked the runway in a whole school production in the Arts & Innovation Hub showcasing problem solving, design and critical thinking skills and the joy of creativity.