Creating 30 different outfits with one dress may seem impossible to some, but junior Grace Leckey has done it for one month every year since 2017.
The initiative she participates in is called “The Dress Project.” Leckey’s blog describes it as a month-long project putting the idea of fashion sustainability into practice. According to the blog, the project strives to challenge the participants' creativity and allows individuals to feel grateful for what they already own. Leckey’s 30-day challenge will end April 30.
Leckey and five of her friends were inspired to enact “The Dress Project” by a mutual acquaintance, Claire Seaton. When Seaton did the project during October 2015, Charlotte Maskelony, Leckey’s friend from high school, was inspired to participate in the same project with their group of friends.
Maskelony said that Seaton was enthusiastic about others participating in the project and Seaton agreed to let them replicate it. When Maskelony introduced the idea to Leckey and the rest of her friend group, the project took off, she said.
The number of participants of this project fluctuate every year. Leckey almost didn’t do the project last year because she would have been the only participant, yet her boyfriend eventually convinced her to continue it, she said.
Leckey says that being mindful of textile sustainability and how long you own your clothes for is important if you're a fashion lover.
“If you love fashion, if you love dressing up, if you love thinking about what you put on your body and how you present, then I think you should care about those items,” Leckey said. “I think everyone has their own philosophies about why their clothes matter or don't and that's what mine is, is that the items themselves are precious, and I care about what happens to them next.”
Leckey’s friend, senior Emma Walsh, also participated in the dress project with Leckey this year, but she bent the rules. Instead of wearing one dress for a whole month, she wore one dress per week.
“I thought it would be difficult but some days you just dress crazy and it looks silly and just go with it,” Walsh said. “It's fun to just get creative and find a bunch of different ways to wear one dress.”
Leckey said that the project is easier than most people make it out to be.
“When you have enough tricks up your sleeve, the outfits are the easy part,” Leckey said. “And I think it's surprising in all the best ways.”
Maskelony, who participated in the project in 2017 and 2018, said it is all about finding the right dress and the right group of people to participate with.
“It's so much fun when you have a community and when you have a purpose behind it,” Maskelony said.
As for dress maintenance, Leckey said she washes it whenever she goes out and is active, but with the pandemic, there’s no need to wash it everyday, since most of her days are spent in.
In the past, Leckey has used this sustainability exercise as a means to fundraise and have people donate to a charity of her choice while she partook in the project. Previously, she and the peers she has done the project with have fundraised for music education for underprivileged youth, advocacy for more women in office and environmental protection, she said.
In the context of what’s happening in the world right now, Leckey said she does not have the energy to fundraise and is now doing it for a spiritual purpose.
“It is really cool for me even as someone who doesn't participate in this activity anymore to look at Grace's blog and like see all the ways that she's put together outfits,” Maskelony said. “I think it's a great way to advocate for sustainable fashion because it's something that's simple, but visible, and it's fascinating.”
