gum dressPhoto: KIMTI wore a purple lamé dress to my junior prom, which I attended with my best friend, Jessica, because we were both too dorky to actually have dates. (Sorry, Jessica, I should just speak for myself. I was too dorky, and Jessica was my faithful best friend. Thank you, Jessica. And thanks for driving us in your mom’s car.) Anyway, I’m stoked to see that shiny fabric is still in for prom—wait just a minute. That’s not fabric. It’s a gum wrapper. A shitload of gum wrappers.

Yep, high school junior and proud Iowan Elizabeth Rasmuson, inspired by all the duct-tape prom creations, did a little extreme DIY-ing and created her prom dress and her adoring (see picture for just how adoring), shaggy-haired date’s vest out of 5—the brand, not the number—gum wrappers. Though I was a bit disappointed to hear that she’d sealed the whole recycled deal with a vinyl topcoat (Umbra would be even more bummed), I’m proud of her for daring to be different and also believing in another of the three R’s—reuse…of the word “like.”

“We started collecting, like, the specific colors, like, at the very beginning of the year,” says Elizabeth.

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