DiscarDisco 2024 - PatchWERK! Meet the Designers

DiscarDisco 2024: PatchWERK was a creative triumph! Now we need your help to make it a success.

A generous donor has agreed to match donations to DiscarDisco up to $15,000, but we only have until Friday, April 19th to make the match!

Meet the DiscarDisco 2024 Designers!

Here are the fabulous Finalists who brought their incredible reclaimed looks to DiscarDisco on Saturday, April 13th at the Chicago Athletic Association. Our contestants put a lot of hard work and love into their pieces, learn a little bit about them below!


Designer: Kristin Abhalter Smith (she/her) and Eliza Fernand (they/she) team

IG: @anotherworldsend, @queer.quilting.chi

Bio: Kristin has a lifelong practice making costumes, sets, inflatable sculptures and art exhibitions and is totally inspired by abundant scraps. Eliza grew up on thrift stores and wanted to be a fashion designer since they started sewing at age 12 with the same sewing machine they have now. Eliza also has two art degrees and they are a professor. 

Designer: Simone Brandford-Altsher (she/her)

IG:@very_greasy

Bio: Simone been sewing and crafting for a long time, and loves to work with discarded material.

Designer: Jordan Chavez (he/him)

IG:@InBetweenBranches

Bio: Jordan is a multimedia artist that focuses on creating avant-garde wearable art with a folk approach. He loves using accessible found materials to execute oversized silhouettes that impact how one interacts with their environment. His rural upbringing, studies in fine art, and queer lens all serve him in creating works that are familiar yet strange and new. 

Designer: Ellouise Davis (she/her)

IG: @ellouisevictoria 

Bio: Ellouise is a costume technician and  truly loves her job! She is a maker at heart but loves the chance to exercise her design skills! She works within interesting parameters so this challenge is incredibly fun. She’s also very passionate about reducing waste, and practices it every day.

.

Designer : Elizabeth Dudley (she/her)

IG:@ladyduds_

Bio:Elizabeth Dudley- Elizabeth is an art history and design major at Northwestern. She’s been sewing since she was little, and did costume design in high school! She is mostly self taught.

Designer: Amy Jahnke (she/her)

IG:@aj_makes_stuff

Bio: Amy has sewed on and off for years, and during the pandemic came back to it in a big way. She haunts both Wasteshed locations, thrift stores, and the alley for pre-loved fabric and notions. She uses these materials whenever she can for both economic and ecological reasons.

Designer: J Kent (she/her & they/them)

Youtube:@CompostRoses

Bio: J Kent has a BFA from SAIC and an MFA from Northwestern University. Her practice engages bounty amidst professed scarcity. They have been teaching themselves sewing and construction and is excited to merge her constructions with a long-held interest in fashion. 

.

Designer: Ben Kress (he/him)

IG:@benargenta

Bio: Ben is a costume designer and visual artist who is always trying to deepen the sustainability of his creative work. Ben notes that the more his work centers on conscious environmental practice- such as through thrifting costumes or reusing materials- the more personal and exciting it seems to become. 

Designer: Shereene Manimala/ Upside Down Smile (she/her)

TikTok:@shereenemanimala

Bio: Shereen is a Malayalee-American creative. Her creative practices are visual art, fashion design, repurposing old saris, music and marketing strategy. She has been working on her own streetwear pieces repurposing old saris that are typically worn once into items you can rock casually multiple times, taking sewing classes, and learning the mechanics of sewing.

Designer: Kandace McVickar (she/her)

IG:@kandymcv

Bio: By daytime, Kandace is a technical trade designer, by night time she creates one of a kind looks for her and her dear friends. She has a passion for creating digital art and upcycling denim, textile samples and other damaged items from her 9-5.

Designer: Mary Miller (she/they)

IG:@mary.l.miller.5622022 

Bio: Mary has worked at a dress manufacturer, a design studio, and embroidering caps and sweatshirts. She has also painted silk scarves for a designer, exhibited in a Campy Classics movie poster art show and enjoys the money she saves from remaking, thrifting and reusing. 




Designer: Amanda Nadig (she/her) and Darcie Tashey (she/her)

IG: @amandanadigart @noseriiiiide

Bio: Amanda is a CPS high school art teacher and quilter. She make quilts using the clothes in her closet that she no longer wears as well as visiting thrift stores to buy quilting supplies such as bedsheets, pillowcases and secondhand garments. Darcie Tashey is a graphic designer with an eye for fashion, and will be modeling the look.

Designer: Mary O'Brien (she/her)

IG:@maryomakes

Bio: Mary loves creating and is spending more dedicated time on her art while at a full-time job with a long commute. This is her second year participating in DiscarDisco and she’s hoping to be a bit more competitive with her entry this year.

Designer: Shari Pundrich (she/they)

IG: re.madeinchicago

Bio: Shari was formally trained in painting but has always used her wardrobe as a means of creative expression. They’ve been compelled to work with secondhand textiles in the last few years due to the rise of fast fashion and it's impact on the environment.

Designer: Hillary Rings (she/her)

IG: @hillary.rings

Bio: Hillary is a fashion designer, she graduated from the Apparel Design & Development program from Seattle Central in 2022 and moved to Chicago in 2023. She loves designing but hates waste so she sources second hand materials as often as possible. 

Designer: Theo Shuler (she/her)

Tiktok: @girl.theo

Bio: Theo is am mostly self-taught (and mom-taught) artist. She makes clothes for herself and uses pretty much exclusively use secondhand materials in all her work! This is Theo’s third year participating in DiscarDisco.

Designer: Jocelyn Song (she/her)

IG:@jocelyn.h.song

Bio: Jocelyn is a sewist and upcycling enthusiast. She make patterns, garments, and has recently been learning how to silkscreen and dye fabric. 

Designer: Jessica Van Winkle (she/her)

IG:@jessicavwinkle

Bio: Jessica is a costume designer focused on theatre, drag and performance wear! She works to find extravagance, joy, and humor in everything she create and is extremely passionate about size inclusivity in fashion. She designs for everybody

Designer: Jessica Woodburn (she/her)

IG: @holzbrennenstudio

Bio: Jessica has been a maker since 2018 but started using up-cycled items in 2020.  She started sewing in 2022 and was invited to create a piece for the Trashion  Revolution last year (5th place winner) and just created another trashion piece for the Shadow Ball.  Both pieces were made using single-use plastic.  She also hosts workshops on up-cycled fabric earrings and shrinky dink jewelry from #6 plastic.

Designer: Andrea Zelen (she/her)

IG: @drea_zel

Bio: Andrea started sewing in 7th grade, and has actively been making her own clothing, running fashion shows for her high school, creating full looks and more until she graduated in 2015. Since then she’s focused more on mending, upcycling existing clothing and creative reuse than from-scratch creations. 

These people have all put in an amazing amount of work on getting this show together! DiscarDisco is The WasteShed’s major annual fundraiser, we depend on donations to this event to fund our programs.

Please give generously!

Getting too excited to wait for the final DiscarDisco 2024? Check out 2023 show!

Videography by Francis Son, edited by Drew Durepos and Adam Geremia.