Photography graduate catches the eye of NBC

One phone book, a newspaper, 20 shopping bags, 15 paper grocery bags and three thrift-store dresses brought UCF student Erin Gordon to the attention of NBC.
Gordon, having graduated only weeks ago with a degree in photography, never imagined a class assignment would end up in the NBC window display at the famous Rockefeller Center in New York City — but it did.
Gordon explains that she made and photographed dresses for an assignment on being socially conscious for her Image, Culture and Society class. Her goal was to make something people would actually want to wear, yet be entirely "green" in the process.
Gordon purchased the dresses she used as bases from a thrift shop and revamped them in her unique way, making each one entirely recyclable.
"It makes me feel accomplished and validated as an artist, and elated that I'm actually being taken seriously so young," Gordon said.
What caught NBC's eye was not just the flirty styles and chic designs, but the fact that they fit with the company's "Green is Universal" initiative.
Tricia Conti with NBC explains that their initiative is to bring environmental perspective to everything the company does. Conti said that the theme for this year's Earth Week was "reuse."
"We want our viewers and consumers to re-imagine uses for everyday objects," she said.
Each fashion Gordon created is unique not only in style, but in material as well. One dress — a high-necked, black and white number with small square and rectangular layers — is made with old newspapers. A short, flared blue skirt with a punch of yellow in the bodice is made from various shopping bags. The third — a strapless, knee-length, pale yellow dress — Gordon created with the pages of a phone book. The final piece displayed at Rockefeller Center was a brown dress made with crumpled paper grocery bags for a crushed texture.
The project cost Gordon approximately $30 and about ten hours of labor per dress to create. Once the project ended, Gordon decided to continue her process of recycling by listing the gowns on Etsy.com, a website for people to market their handmade items.
Gordon did not know that NBC partnered with Etsy.com to launch the "Art of ReUSE" contest during this year's Earth Week.
Many weeks after the project's end, Gordon received an email from NBC. However, she initially thought it was a hoax. It wasn't until Gordon received an email from Etsy also that she realized that NBC really wanted her designs.
"We thought they were fun and cutting-edge — the perfect visual example of reuse," Conti said.
Gordon said she's grateful for the exposure that she has received and hopes that it will be beneficial when she applies to competitive Master's programs.
Laine Wyatt, professor of Gordon's Image, Culture and Society class at UCF's Daytona campus, said Gordon's dresses and photography were professional-quality and, therefore, helped to catch the attention of NBC.
Wyatt said she hopes Gordon's success informs incoming students how meaningful classwork can be.
"I like the idea that students come in and embrace the learning system and trust that teachers really do want them to succeed," Wyatt said. She hopes this challenges students to really dedicate themselves and see the work they are assigned has value.
Wyatt said that, while other students in the class did similar projects, an opportunity like this was both a mix of luck and Gordon putting herself out there. She also encourages students, as Gordon did, to facilitate their own success.
"You just need to put yourself out there and really utilize the Internet to your advantage because you never know who in the world can come across your work in the web," Gordon said. "And in many cases, it's free exposure, so you have nothing to lose and you might just get lucky."