Photo: Getty Images
17 year old Larissa Leon entered into the Duck Brand’s 21st annual Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest and decided to enter it with her beautiful folklorico-inspired dress. The amazing part it that her dress was 100% made from Duck brand duct tape.
Larissa told Fox News her dress was made with 47 rolls of duct tape and weighs close to 20 pounds.
Her entire dress was made out of duct tape, from the striped ribboning to the embroidered flowers, the flowy sleeves and even the intricate lacework.
She also made a matching duct tape purse, flower crown, earrings and even her shoes!
Larissa said it took her 163 hours to put everything together, and clearly her hard work paid off since she did become the Duck Brand’s grand prize for "Best Dress" – a $10,000 scholarship.
"I knew that I wanted to do something really big, something very colorful, not only a dress I wanted it to like represent me and be a part of me because I didn't just want to do a regular old prom dress," Leon said during a phone interview. "I wanted it to be a part of me. So, with that, I took a lot of inspiration from my Mexican culture with folkloric dance and those types of dresses."
Larissa said she found out about the Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest in 201 when crafting with duct tape became popular.
She said from a young age she has always loved crochet, sew and working on DIY projects. Larissa says she told herself she’d apply for the scholarship when she became old enough. While she waited to be old enough to enter she decided she would practice by designing duct tape wallets and other accessories.
"Larissa has always been very creative and artistic since she was very little. She has always been doing some sort of art project, designing or doing a science experiment, so when she started doing this project I was like, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’" Larissa's mother, María Perez, told Fox News.
Larissa worked on her dress for three months and hardly slept since she tried to balance school and making her dress. Her mom said their home was covered with duct tape the entire three months.
"I was amazed [with] how nice it had turned out and how from a distance it looked like real fabric," her mom said of Larissa's final product. "It makes me really happy and proud to know that all her hard work paid off and that people recognize the beautiful dress she created. I know this means a lot to her, and as her mother, I’m so proud of her for setting goals [for] herself and achieving them."
Fox News said Larissa thanked her community for their support, she's from Sunnyside, Washington.
"I'm very thankful because I strongly believe if it wasn't for people going out and voting for their favorite dress, I don't think I would have won, because, in order for them to determine a winner, it's based on community voting. So, I'm very thankful for everyone that voted because I strongly believe that those people are the reason why I won."
Larissa didn't only get her community votes but Duck Brand’s Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest had a panel of judges as well. They ranked entries based on five different categories all worth 20% of their final score, including workmanship, originality, use of color, accessories and use of Duck Brand duct tape.
"Each of our participants pushed the boundaries with their designs to enter this year's contest and we're beyond impressed by their determination and skill to make never-before-seen looks out of Duck Tape," said Ashley Luke, a senior product and global brand manager for Duck Brand's parent company, Shurtape Technologies.
Congrats Larissa!!
SOURCE: Fox News