Prom dress made from cardboard

Maura, a Missouri high-school student, has a long history of making awesome prom-dresses (there was the goth one, the one made out of Doritos bags, and the one made of pull-tabs). This year, she topped her own impressive achievements with a beautiful dress made of cardboard. She's featured on the "Everything Dresses" site.

The top of the dress is middle part of corrugated cardboard that was peeled apart. If you have ever looked at a cardboard box it is 3 layers, an outer shell on each side with a wavy part in the middle. The wavy part is the top! Maura then spray painted the pieces and painted glitter on top. Everything is glued together with wood glue and hot glue. And no prom dress would be complete without a corset back! The bottom of the dress proved to be the challenge on this project as it was made of paper bags, and then spray painted, with a zipper in the back.

Cardboard Prom Dress

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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disky00

Teenage wasteland chic.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PipLagenta Pip_R_Lagenta

That brings back fond memories of attending the prom at Uncanny Valley High School.
- digi_owl
  
  Yea, it seems that makeup has taken a flying leap off the deep end…
johnjupiter

pray for rain
- cdh1971
  
  Well….Roger Ebert might say she is overdressed too.
  
  This thought crossed my mind ’cause Russ Meyer (Mondo Topless/other films) and Roger Ebert were old friends, click link below for a nice article written about R. Meyers after his passing:http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040922/PEOPLE/40921010
  
  Kidding aside, Mr. Jupiter, your comment made me think of a Russ Meyer film, perhaps one he didn’t make but should have. I also like Roger Ebert, although every third or forth review leaves me scratching my head – and I usually chalk up the missing star (in my opinion) to one of the ladies being overdressed. BTW – about the rain, yeah…had the same thought.Pic related – Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert in 1970. Ebert was a script writer for a few of Meyer’s flicks too.
ymendel

My thoughts on seeing the pull-tab dress, in order:

- Wow, she looks great
- I bet that actually doesn’t feel so great while dancing
- I should probably stop thinking about a high-school student
Efemmeral

Well done promoting this talented girl, Cory.
ffabian

What happened to her face? Photoshop or weird lighting? (thats no veiled insult but genuine interest)
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Injudicious use of the blur tool? That’s pretty soft focus.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1132561327 Maura Pozek
  
  Hi it’s Maura, the picture just happened to turn out that way, no Photoshop or anything. All of the other pictures turned out similarly.
ocker3

I would have proudly escorted her to the dance back in High School
fergus1948

I’m hoping a flame retardant went into the mix at some point.
http://www.geekforce.com Hugh Johnson

Oooh, cute shoes too!
Ian Anthony

inb4: “She’s cute!” “THIS POST ISN’T ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT SHE IS CUTE IT IS ABOUT HER TALENT.”
knoxblox

I hope there’s a lining. I’d hate to see what happens when she gets warm and her pores open up.
http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain

I only half-listened to the story about this on NPR yesterday and was picturing something completely different.
jandrese

It’s a shame there is no video, I would have liked to have seen how the dress looks when she moves, walks, etc… It doesn’t look like she solved the problem of cardboard being far too stiff to make a dress from normally. She could be effectively spending her prom in a suit of armor, unable to feel the caress of her date on her back with a skirt that rings like a bell when she dances.

I’m also a bit concerned about how well it will hold up to perspiration, since it won’t breath at all and dance halls tend to get mighty warm as the night goes on. I guess if she manages to soak the dress with sweat it might start to move better.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/karnuvap/ Karnuvap

D’you hear about the cowboy prom girl in the paper dress?

..got arrested for rustlin’.
hyph3n

NPR had a story about her yesterday. Although she want to major in fashion design– she doesn’t have the money to go to college.
- http://www.doggo.org doggo
  
  Cardboard Prom Dress Is Just The Right Fit For This Young Woman
  
  “So now what? Well, she’s graduating and heading to University of Missouri, Kansas City. And though she once imagined going into fashion design, she’s now thinking about elementary education.”
  - thejoelpatrol
    
    Yes, but in the audio interview, she says she is doing that because the alternative is too expensive. She’s going to college, but evidently not one she would prefer where she could study fashion. This is too bad.
M Carlson

What’s wrong with this girl? Making her own clothes creatively from repurposed materials? Doesn’t she know the American economy is dependent on her to only purchase things, not make them herself?

Not to mention she’s dressed completely modestly….aren’t young women these days contractually required to show at least three inches of cleavage? /sarcasm

Nicely done. Very creative.
http://orbitnet.com JIMWICh

I particularly like that in the Doritos dress photo, the limestone bluffs are in the background. The same ones that contain the massive government cheese storage caves.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1132561327 Maura Pozek

I made the dress…Just thought I should clear some things up. There was no lining, it was cardboard on skin, but I had glued the edges down well so nothing stabbed at me. It held up well to dancing, however I don’t really “get jiggy wit it” so that may be why. There’s video on Ky3.com as I was on the local news.
Also if it’s not too illegal, it’d be nice if you people went to my Facebook page where I have other pictures in information. CraftyPoz Creations.
Thanks for showing interest in my dress.
- penguinchris
  
  Why not provide a link to your facebook page, and why not try to make money from your fashion skills as they are so you can afford to go to fashion school?
  
  There are few things BB readers like more than helping people go to college and if publicity will help you in any way go to fashion school instead of something more affordable, then let us give you publicity!
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1132561327 Maura Pozek
    
    Thanks, here’s a link to my Facebook page where I’ll be updating everything. I’m still trying to figure out how to get money for college out of all this.
    
    https://www.facebook.com/CraftyPozCreations
    - penguinchris
      
      Hehe, yep, doing cool stuff isn’t easy, but it seems like it is compared to making money from it. Best of luck to you :)
      
      If I were you I’d start a blog. Use the publicity you already receive to get your audience. You’ll make some money from advertising, but let people donate as well (though don’t hope for too much on that front). Maybe come up with some things you can manufacture and sell, and use Kickstarter to fund them. After your blog is going for a while (and you will need to be quite dedicated to it), see if you can get a publishing deal to compile it into a book about DIY fashion using unusual materials.