PHX Perspective

Fabulous Fashions Made from Discarded Items are on Display

A one-of-a-kind exhibition is on display at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The Phoenix Airport Museum has partnered with artist and educator Nancy Judd to present Recycle Runway, an exhibition of classic dresses created from materials that are often discarded. Judd uses the art of fashion to raise the public’s environmental consciousness.

“Environmental education is at the heart of all my work. Making trash into elegant and beautiful fashions attracts attention to the actions that we can each take in our everyday lives to care for the planet,” says Judd. Her garments take hundreds of hours to make with post-consumer materials such as aluminum cans, water bottles and junk mail.

At first glance, Airport visitors walking by the exhibit in Terminal 3 never guess that they are looking at fashion made from trash. Sky Harbor’s Museum Program Manager Lennee Eller says, “The Phoenix Airport Museum engages and entertains travelers while creating a sense of identity. Judd’s exhibition adds the extra bonus of educating and reminding all of us what wonderful things can happen when we are creative about recycling.”

Recycle Runway is a traveling exhibition of artist-designed garments created from recyclable materials. It is shown around the country to promote sustainability.

Commissioned by global organizations including Toyota®, Target®, Coca-Cola®, and the Glass Packaging Institute, the Recycle Runway garments were created to showcase the creativity of sustainability by combining fashions made from trash and environmental education.

Avila Retail, which owns and operates several shops at Phoenix Sky Harbor and the Palo Verde group of the Sierra Club also helped make the exhibition possible by sponsoring the artist.

The Recycle Runway exhibit is on display through August 8 on Level 2 of Sky Harbor’s Terminal 3, pre-security. Airlines in Terminal 3 are Air Tran, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, Northwest (now Delta) and Sun Country.