Maya Ramirez won a $10,000 scholarship to help attend fashion school.
MAUMEE, Ohio — A local fashion designer accomplished a lot when she won "Project Runway Junior" at age 14. Now, she has yet another win under her belt.
Maya Ramirez, now 17, won a $10,000 scholarship for a gown she designed made completely out of duct tape.
Ramirez feels pretty comfortable behind a sewing machine, but she didn't even need one for her last creation, a prom dress completely made of duct tape.
"I decided to make this woven pattern up at the top. This is all 100 percent duct tape. There is no fabric or extra material put in here," she explained about the dress.
Ramirez looked at the history of fashion for inspiration. She was inspired by the glamour of the 1920s and the shapes of the 1950s and 1960s which she used to design the dress's silhouette. The intricate weaving paid homage to her Guatemalan-American heritage. Ramirez made the design complete by creating a matching corsage.
In all, it took about 42 hours and 17 rolls of duct tape to create the gown.
The scholarship is a big win for her, as she's starting school in August at the prestigious New School Parsons, Paris, campus where she'll be studying strategic design and management.
"It was a big decision for me, in part financially as well as it is for most students for college, and so when I decided to take it on I was looking for scholarship opportunities," Ramirez said.
Thus, she found Duck Tape Brand's "Stuck at Prom" Scholarship Contest. Ramirez won thanks to all the votes she received from people across the country, including plenty of those in our own back yards. Folks quickly got behind her, just like they did when she was on "Project Runway Junior."
"I just felt this energy from the community, like everyone was there supporting me. It just meant the absolute world to me to see everyone come together," she said.
Check out a list of all the winners on the Duck Brand website.
