Suzee's 3rd Street Laundry Lost and Found Fashion Show

Every first Saturday in December, Suzee’s 3rd Street Laundry, a laundromat located in the small town of Turner’s Falls, MA, just outside of Greenfield, holds a lost and found fashion show. Every year around the middle of October, seven local designers each receive one mystery bag from the laundromat filled with abandoned clothes. The designers then have six weeks to create a number of outfits and looks using the clothing from the bag and other materials.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with one designer who has been involved in the event for seven years. Sarah Pruitt, or The Duchess Von Pruitt, as she is known near the runway, says her fascination and love of designing clothes began when she became a costume designer 25 years ago at UMass Boston where she was studying drama. She liked drama but she felt she really belonged behind stage. Sarah says she was always interested in fashion. One would assume that that interest combined with her love of drama would be the recipe for the perfect costume designer. However, Sarah says she is much happier being able to design clothes for fashion shows where she doesn’t have to answer to a director and what she designs doesn’t necessarily have to “make sense” or stick to any kind of script. “It’s great because I don’t need a justification for my designs and I also still get to make ridiculously elaborate costumes…for my kids!” says Sarah.

Sarah is incredibly excited for the upcoming show at the laundromat. She says she will be receiving her bag soon and hopes to get clothes and colors that will work well with her theme (potentially a 1950′s theme). Sarah usually picks her theme before she receives the bag. Last year, her theme was golden goddesses and she combined large golden sheets with the clothing from the bag. She says she lucked out and got clothes that matched the gold theme very well. Sarah recalls with an empathetic tone that one year a designer received mostly baby clothes in their bag.

Picture from google image search (turnersfallsriverculture.org)

“I think my thing I bring to the show is…I bring the whole package. I do hair, makeup, shoes…I put it all together! Plus, I normally get there around 7pm to start getting ready. All the other designers normally show up at like 9:30. The models walk at 10.” Sarah says she uses the same models every year because “They’re just regular women. They’re not super tall or super skinny. We’re a freakin’ team. My models are game for everything and they don’t even bat an eye.”

The laundromat is small and has a capacity of 80 persons. Sarah says there are normally about 50 people who attend the event. Tickets go fast. There is a DJ and a huge after party at the restaurant, The Rendez-Vous, next door. I highly recommend UMass students to try to come and see this event or at least check out Sarah Pruitt’s designs on her Facebook page.