Sage Hill Reimagined Upcycling fashion show

Sage Hill School’s Reimagined Upcycling Club put student-made garments on the runway on May 15, using donated clothing and club sewing machines for a campus fashion show in Newport Coast, California. The event was reported by the Los Angeles Times’ Daily Pilot on May 20, which said students transformed used clothing articles into looks for the show. The club’s work fits a longer-running program at Sage Hill focused on remaking donated clothes rather than buying new garments. School and club materials show the group has used fashion shows, donation drives and sewing projects to make its case against clothing waste and fast fashion. ### How much of this was a one-off school event, and how much was part of an ongoing club project? Sage Hill School has been documenting the club’s work since at least 2023. A school article published in February 2023 said Reimagined Club members altered unused clothing by trimming shirts, sewing men’s neckties onto a denim skirt and adding embellishments to other pieces. The article named Anna Yang, then a co-founder and president, as saying the club wanted to redesign clothing while pushing back on fast fashion and its labor and environmental costs. The Reimagined Club’s own website says it coordinated its first fashion show on the Sage Hill campus on April 14, 2023, to educate the community about the fashion industry’s environmental impact and labor conditions. Sage Hill later said the club hosted a second annual sustainable fashion show on January 19, 2024. ### What do we know about the May 15 show itself? The Los Angeles Times’ Daily Pilot listing for May 20 said the May 15 event featured fashions made from used clothing and created by the Reimagined Upcycling Club with its own sewing machines. (sagehillschool.org) The newspaper’s item identified Sage Hill School as the host and placed the show on campus. Public club materials suggest the show followed a format the group has used before: collecting donated garments, redesigning them and presenting the finished looks in a school event. (reimaginedclub.org) A Linktree page tied to the club says about 60 Sage Hill students modeled 80 different upcycled pieces at a recent Friday fashion show, with all items made from clothing collected in a community drive. The available snippet does not specify the exact posting date for that figure, so it is best read as related public context rather than a confirmed count from the May 15 event itself. (latimes.com) ### Who has been leading the effort? Anna Yang has been one of the most visible student organizers in Sage Hill and club materials. The school’s 2023 article identified her as a co-founder and president of Reimagined Club. A press page on the club’s site also names Yang and Sofia Jellen in connection with the group’s fashion show work and says the event depended on community participation in donating, redesigning and modeling used clothing. (linktr.ee) Sage Hill’s campus is in Newport Coast, and the school describes itself as an independent day school for grades 7 through 12. That setting helps explain why the club’s shows have been framed as both student arts events and environmental-awareness projects. ### Where does the sustainability angle come from? The club has consistently linked upcycling to waste reduction and criticism of fast fashion. Sage Hill’s 2023 article said members asked peers to donate clothing through an upcycling drive and described the effort as a way to give garments “a new life.” The club’s site says its first show was designed to educate the community about environmental and human costs in the fashion industry. (sagehillschool.org 1) (sagehillschool.org 2) The May 15 event appears to have extended that same message into a newer school-year showcase. The Daily Pilot’s May 20 report placed the emphasis on garments transformed from used clothing rather than on retail fashion or outside brands. ### Where can readers track what comes next? Sage Hill School lists campus events and student-life updates on its website, and the Reimagined Club maintains its own site with press items and event information. (sagehillschool.org) The club’s future-events page identifies Sage Hill School at 20402 Newport Coast Drive in Newport Beach as its base. The most recent confirmed public marker in this story is the May 20 Daily Pilot report on the May 15 show. (reimaginedclub.org) (latimes.com)