Cheap to Chic 
Fashionistas are turning from Gucci to Goodwill. Nearly 20 cities have hosted massive clothing swaps with workshops and sewing stations for attendees to refashion their "new" finds. In central New York State, students at Cazenovia College have created a clothing line (above) out of thrift-store donations by embellishing out-of-date denim, piecing together new shirts from ripped polos, and snipping "old man sweaters" into stylish shrugs. And author Megan Nicolay has taken her book on "108 ways to transform a T-shirt" (below) to both Martha Stewart's TV audience and the Bonnaroo music-festival crowd. Clearly, the bargain bin is "in."
(Photograph at top right by Laura Pirkl; Diagram above by Megan Nicolay; Photograph above by Andrew McLeod)
UPDATE: The Cazenovia College students aren't resting on their laurels. Joanne Gilbert in the Fashion Studies department writes, "we added some skinny knit sweater dresses, hats and scarves knitted from cotton tee strips since we talked. We plan to do several fashion shows this spring. The biggest news is that we are proposing to expand the concept of Look Again to 'home and health' with recycled transformed lamps (for literacy) and walking sticks (for disabled) designed by Interior Design majors and Studio Arts respectively."
Check out some of the new styles from the college's "Look Again" line:
