Three days before premiering her winter fashion line, Michelle Haley gathered her models for a fitting – just in case. She had collected everyone’s sizes beforehand, but as the University senior knew well, garments lose their stretch once affixed with latex.
“I’m not nervous but I don’t know what to expect,” freshman Kendra Carson told her fellow models before trying on her rainbow swimsuit. The three women, all of whom had performing experience of some sort, were more worried about changing on a frigid afternoon and walking in heels than strutting down the runway clad scantily in heavy, stretchless material.

Despite its lack of stretch, Carson’s swimsuit fit her perfectly. She had a minor costume malfunction while undressing in the EMU bathroom, though, and lost several of her yellow “ruffles.”
“I’m hoping not to have any emergencies, but they unroll easily,” Haley said nonchalantly as she took the colorful bathing attire from Carson, unrolled two yellow condoms to replace the rump ruffles and pulled out her box of sewing gear. “You have to (sew) over the edges a couple of times.”
During the past two weeks, Haley, a receptionist for the UO Cultural Forum, has forgone academic obligations and weekend nights out to attach more than 2,000 Trustex condoms onto seven garments. It has taken more than 40 hours, but her hand-stitched creations resulted in the rainbow swimsuit that Carson will wear, James Bond swimming trunks, Victoria Secret-esque lingerie and a Vegas-style peacock ensemble. Haley’s “Safe and Sexy” line will be featured alongside other condom couture at the University’s second World AIDS Day Condom Fashion Show on Friday in the EMU Ballroom.
“It’s killing me,” Haley said of her intense condom-fashioning schedule. Haley took sewing lessons from her grandmother and sewed her and her partners’ own Scandinavian Festival costumes as a kid in Junction City, Ore. Sewing condoms onto spendy lingerie, however, proved a challenging feat. “Eventually I may want to have my own clothing line, but probably not made of condoms,” she said.
This fall, student groups, faculty and community members were invited to design apparel or accessories made out of condoms provided by the Cultural Forum. Because companies will not sell defective condoms for liability reasons, the Cultural Forum has tried this year to recycle last year’s leftovers and purchased more than 100,000 unlubricated condoms, which are generally used for educational purposes only.
“Part of the argument for using condoms in fashion is to raise awareness and to get people comfortable with condoms by unwrapping them; it’s more participatory,” said Hollie Putnam, a University junior and the public relations coordinator for the ASUO Women’s Center. “Condom fashion shows are done internationally and having one here speaks to that tradition. We are part of a global effort to educate people. It’s fun and playful.”
Putnam said that while students may have come last year just to support their friends in the fashion show, they ended up learning something from the skits, testimonials, informercials and other entertaining presentations. Afterward, many attendees ventured to the World AIDS Day benefit concert at the Campbell Club.
Last year’s first University Condom Fashion Show, a part of the larger World AIDS Day campaign event, saw more than 250 attendees and dozens of participants. Haley said that while some attendees were skeptical last year, she anticipates more openness this year and an even larger crowd.
The World AIDS Days campaign began in 1988. Its activists strive to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS internationally by pressuring governments and organizations to achieve universal access to care, support, treatment and prevention. University sponsors of the campus event include the Women’s Center, Peer Health Alliance, the Cultural Forum and Students for Global Health.
“My mom actually did a condom fashion show in college when she worked at the health center at Berkeley,” said Harper Brokaw-Falbo, a University junior and the global feminist issues coordinator for the Women’s Center. “It wasn’t nearly as involved and was much less complicated, but they hung condoms around their necks and made pins. That was in 1983.”
Brokaw-Falbo has been working on her elaborate pink and turquoise condom dress this week. The process has taken much longer than she anticipated and has been “pretty haphazard.” She said condoms have become an everyday part of her and her four roommates’ living space; they lay strewn about the house as she creates her outfit. She intends to keep the dress for Halloween next year.
Haley, a seasoned condom fashion designer from last year’s show, filled up her entire trunk with condoms several weeks ago and noticed how heavy they collectively are. She has divvied up her condoms in Market of Choice bags by color, and unwraps them one by one to conserve her condom consumption. For a form, Haley uses bedroom pillows and is constantly amazed by how visually appealing her and others’ condom fashions turn out.
There will be no costume contest component of the fashion show, event sponsors said, and the ratio of women to men participants is about two-to-one. ASUO President Sam Dotter-Katz is among the men in the show. He will wear a green and yellow “argyle” sweater.
“It’s so much work to make the costumes,” Erin Howe, a University freshman and Women’s Center intern said. “Everyone wins.”
Most of all, condom fashionistas and event sponsors like Brokaw-Falbo and Haley are focused on the educational messages behind the fun and entertaining evening.
“I think one of the biggest things is that it helps to destigmatize and makes people comfortable,” Brokaw-Falbo said. “A condom fashion show is a fun accessory to a greater message.”
“Some people think it’s a waste to use this many condoms for a fashion show,” Haley said. “It’s not a waste if we are drawing students in with something fun and while they are captured by the fashion, they learn about proper condom use and HIV/AIDS.”
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