Measuring Up

PROVIDENCE - Outside RISD's auditorium yesterday, frantic shouts filled the air, lending the alley all the drama of New York's Bryant Park during fashion week.

"Can I use your hair spray?"

"Does anyone have any blush?"

"How much time do we have?"

Sixteen-year-old Liz Morgan shrugged out of her denim shorts and into a strapless dress made entirely of tickets, the sort sold in strips of 10 at church carnivals.

"I'm sweating like a man," she declared as 17-year-old Hailey Peek, the dress' designer, taped on extra rows of tickets, adding last-minute accents.

Liz, who's from Montville, Conn., and Hailey, who lives in Seattle, came to Providence for the Rhode Island School of Design's pre-college program for high-school students. Liz studied graphic design; Hailey, fashion design. The ticket dress was Hailey's innovative design, a project that asked students to use materials not typically used to make clothing.

RISD's pre-college program draws more than 500 students from around the world to its 18 majors, despite the hefty tuition ($3,175 plus a housing and dining fee of $1,710).

At the end of six weeks in Providence, Hailey Peek declared the city "fantastic."

"We walked everywhere," she enthused as she continued to prep Liz for the impending runway show to exhibit the innovative designs. "We didn't really get too far into the city, though -- we mainly went to the mall, and stuff."

A few feet away, Sonia Severino, a 17-year-old from Naples, Italy, dressed 16-year-old San Francisco native Alex Baldwin in a halter dress made of Post-It notes sprayed gold. She pointed out her model's smoky eyes, red lips and dramatic dark hair. "The look is Liza Minnelli," Sonia said. "It's inspired by the '20s."

Sonia would do a turn as a model herself, wearing a friend's design, "Orange Julius," a tube dress made of orange peels inside two layers of clear packing tape. "I'm from Florida," the dress' designer, Katherine Reed, explained.

Katherine, in turn, wore a black duct-tape bustier and a skirt made of streaming strands of yellow police tape, or, rather a parody of it, created for bachelorette parties. "DANGER: PARTY GIRLS," it said. Serra Tansel, a 16-year-old from Istanbul, Turkey, who came to RISD with Sonia after the two met at a summer camp last year, designed the ensemble, which also included a headband with yellow-and-black antennae.

"It's called Bee Careful," Sonia said. "Get it?"

Tessa Carpenter, 16, came to Rhode Island from Los Angeles. Providence is "smaller than L.A.," she mused as she put the finishing touches on a dress made entirely of zippers.

"It's laid back and low-key. It's nice to be able to focus on art," Tessa added. "I feel like I've gotten a lot accomplished."

Then, the skies opened - a major liability to all the outfits made of paper products. Chaos erupted. "If it's raining, why is it still so hot?" someone yelled. "What's wrong with Rhode Island?"

In a quiet back stairway, Edda Thors, a long-haired 17-year-old from Barrington, Ill., sat stitching soda pop tabs together, oblivious to the hubbub. "I've slept nine hours in the past three days," she said.

Edda explained that she came to RISD's summer program because she hopes to attend college there. A lot of her classmates in the summer program found RISD "too intense," she said. "I still want to come here," she added. "I like the fact that they don't jump straight to computer animation. They focus on the basics. I want to make things from scratch."

Edda's dress was scheduled for the end of the show. She was still stitching when the models took the stage, strutting and pivoting with a worldly air. Some were nearly naked.

There were dresses made of surgical gloves, fly swatters and Mardi Gras beads. Colored pencils, AstroTurf and nonstick rug backing. And the ultimate in self-referentiality: a runway model wearing a dress made from the pages of fashion magazines.

Post-show, the teenage designers emerged wearing tank tops and shorts, some holding hands to show new but intense friendship forged over six weeks. Their flip-flops slapped against the stage. They were clearly still kids.