By Margaux Poupard
One man’s discarded BART ticket is another man’s art — at least that’s the case with Oakland designer Sean Porter, who stitched together 192 BART tickets to create a one-of-kind cocktail dress called the b’ART dress.
While many Bay Area commuters go out of their way to avoid butt-to-BART-seat contact, Porter spent three years scavenging tickets and crafting his unique dress, which is currently on display at Piedmont Fabrics in Oakland. The actual sewing of the dress took only a few months.
Porter moved to the Bay Area from Mobile, Alabama, hoping to further his career in fashion. Instead of cursing endless BART delays under his breath like so many transplants do, he got inspired by the agency’s ubiquitous paper tickets. “I fell in love with the simple color palette of the blue BART ticket,” he told The Bold Italic.
Although he has a passion for working with unusual materials, Porter knew he had his work cut out for him when he came up with the idea for a BART cocktail dress. “I knew BART tickets would not be the easiest material to work with,” he said, “and I began to sketch out different designs for the dress.”
BART isn’t the only Bay Area icon that influenced him either. The skirt’s triangular shape was inspired by the TransAmerica building and took 120 tickets to fashion together. “The bold black and white lines were perfect for giving the effect of lines created by dark windows and the light colored cement of the TransAmerica Pyramid,” Porter said. “The skirt of the dress is just a side of the TransAmerica Pyramid. I love the way it flares out.”
To accompany his b’ART dress, Porter also created the BART system dress, with draped velour ribbon mimicking the familiar commuter map.
What’s next for this innovative up-and-coming designer? “I would be glad to do any future collaborations with any of the other transit agencies, but right now I am putting together a ready-to-wear women’s collection,” he said.
The b’ART Dress and BART system map are on display at Piedmont Fabrics in Oakland through the end of March.
[h/t CityLab; top photo courtesy of Sean Porter]
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