Runway RePurposed: Pine-Richland students turn old into new for Salvation Army fundraiser

Here’s an idea: Use something old to create something new.

And fashionable.

That’s the concept behind Runway RePurposed, the May 22 fundraiser benefiting the Salvation Army Family Caring Center in East Liberty.

Plus it’s a pursuit on which Erika Graham, who chairs Pine-Richland’s family and consumer science department, embarked quite a while ago.

“When I was in sixth grade, I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find these clothes that I had these ideas about,” she said. “Back in the ’80s, Vintage was starting to become a very hyped thing, and my mom was really into it. So she would take me to all these secondhand clothing stores.

“And I would go home and take these clothes apart, and make them into my own clothing.”

Naturally, she jumped right on board when Elizabeth Gallagher, her North Allegheny School District counterpart, told her about a new approach to the event formerly known as the Garbage Bag Gala.

“This is the first year that the Salvation Army is doing their Runway RePurposed with students,” Graham said. “All of the other years it was put on, it was using local designers around the Pittsburgh area.”

Among the participants are three eighth graders at Pine-Richland Middle School, where she teaches: Abby Galluzzo, Brooklyn Pfaeffle and Kylie Zrebiec.

Kylie is taking a page from Graham’s playbook by using dresses from local thrift shops to create an enchanting gown. Abby is turning old linens into a beach-themed sun dress, and Brooklyn tapped into her grandmother’s fabric collection to design a spaghetti-strap party dress featuring ribbon and tulle, a lightweight, sheer material.

“We’re super-excited to get the word out there that this is now turning into a student event,” Graham said. “It’s only the first year, so we have so much more room to grow with it.”

Her own early interests led to her studying at the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

“When I got there, I was really fascinated with the idea of taking a company’s money and traveling the world and sourcing out unique things,” she said. “And that’s really the way it was, until 1995.”

That was around the time that the Information Superhighway — you may remember that nickname for the internet — started on its road toward ubiquity, taking the necessity of “traveling the world” with it.

“I just sat there and thought, no, I can’t sit in an office and just look on a computer and pick out clothing and push out numbers all day,” Graham recalled.

She did gain practical experience as a costume designer, most notably during a nine-month stint with MTV, and freelanced for various theater groups in the Pittsburgh area. And to help make ends meet:

“I was bartending and waiting tables, just like you would in the entertainment industry, and some girl I was working with — she was 19; I was 28 — said, ‘You should just become a home ec teacher.’”

Graham scoffed at first.

“But then, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And I thought, if I could teach kids how to sew, that would be so cool,” she said. “And here I am.”

She certainly looks forward to some of those kids showing off their skills at Runway RePurposed.

“That is how I got started, so this is almost like a full circle for me,” Graham said. “It’s kind of a dream come true, to be honest.”