L.A. teen’s duct tape prom dress could win her $10,000 in national competition
Prom dresses can be pricey, but one California teenager had an innovative solution for attending prom in a budget-friendly way: She made an entire prom dress out of duct tape.
USA Today reports that Kara Torres, a recent high school grad, landed herself a finalist spot in the Duck Brand Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest. Torres’ prom dress is a layered pink, white and gold dress that she said was inspired by a work of French art.
Along with nine other finalists, Torres is now awaiting to see if her dress was awarded the grand prize of $10,000.
The dress details
Torres shared her dress on her TikTok channel, encouraging people to vote for her and giving more details on the inspiration and dress-making process.
“This dress is inspired by 18th-century French art that I saw at the Getty Museum,” Torres said. “I was captivated by the amount of gold and extravagant paintings they had on display. It was a time period of luxurious gowns full of lace, floral prints, ribbons and ruffles. So I wanted to incorporate some of these elements into my dress. Everything is made out of duct tape!!”
She also updated followers when she became a finalist and explained how she had made the lace detailing out of duct tape, which is a thick material that’s difficult to work with compared to fabric.
“I used wax paper and covered it with duct tape,” Torres said. “Then, I used a big dot machine and metal stencil to create designs.”
The dress also comes complete with accessories, including a fan, clutch, neckpiece and headpiece, which she told USA Today were an important part of her aesthetic. “I thought it was really elegant and it was going to elevate the look,” she noted.
Her TikTok also shows her assembling the dress in pieces before putting it together. She told USA Today that the full process took 120 hours and 14 rolls of duct tape.
She also told USA Today that she didn’t enter the contest until late in the game and only had one week to complete the dress.
“I discovered it during quarantine, so I knew I wanted to join it and I decided to do it like my senior year,” Torres told the outlet. “I didn’t start all the way until May. That was really late … I didn’t have time to think things over, I had to just keep on working every day.”
The winner of the contest will get $10,000 as a scholarship prize. Torres shared on her TikTok that if she wins, she plans on using the money to help her pursue her educational dreams as she attends college this fall.
“I hope to work in the fashion industry, more toward the business aspect of it!!” she wrote.
The duct tape prom contest
The duct tape prom outfit contest is an annual one that challenges wearers to make a complete prom outfit — either a dress or tuxedo — along with accessories using Duck brand duct tape and/or Duck brand crafting tape.
The participants had to be U.S. residents and submit photos or a video of their creations. A panel of judges then chose 10 finalists that advanced into the community voting round. Five of the finalists are in the dress category, and five are in the tux category.
Judges based their decisions on the following criteria, all equally weighted:
Originality
Use of colors
Accessories
Use of the duct tape
Workmanship
Voters then had to register on the Duck Brand website to vote on their favorite dresses or tuxes between June 28 and July 12, 2023. The winner will be announced on July 19, 2023.
Judging from the comments on Duck Brand’s TikTok with the finalists, Karla’s dress certainly seems to be a contender.
“Karla’s is so cutee,” wrote @mammonswhore.
“Everyone is sleeping on karla THE DETAIL LIKE WHAT?!” commented @missposada.
“Honored to be a finalist,” replied Torres (@hanjifreak).
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