Yes, these promgoers dressed in duct tape

Kathleen Lavey | Lansing (Mich.) State Journal

LANSING, Mich. — Rozlin Opolka made her first duct-tape dress for an eighth-grade dance. It turned out to be a hit.

"Everybody just loved it," she said.

She promised friends and family that she would make another one for senior prom. The newly minted Fowlerville High School graduate did not disappoint.

Rozlin, 18, and her boyfriend, Conner Hawry, 19, created a bronze, gold and brown steampunk ensemble out of colored duct tape, outfitting themselves from head to toe for the May 13 prom.

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"It ended up working and looking very nice," Rozlin said.

Their prom creation has put them in the running for up to $10,000 each in a nationwide scholarship contest, "Stuck at Prom," sponsored by Duck Tape. Voting is open online until July 5 at stuckatprom.com.

Rozlin says she use to add bands of colored duct tape to her jeans in junior high. That eighth-grade dress, in yellow, red and orange, had clear tape with flowers on it over one shoulder and a short, ruffled skirt.

"I was waiting and waiting until senior year" in order to make another dress.

She told Conner — a 2016 Fowlerville grad who she has been dating for about a year — about her duct tape promise.

Intricate details cover the hat and shoes that Conner Hawry made from duct tape and wore to Fowlerville High School's prom. (Photo: Courtesy of Duck Tape)

He not only endorsed the idea but came up with the steampunk theme and made his own outfit. What's steampunk? Think Victorian-era clothes with a Jules Verne machine-wonder vibe.

Working from sketches made by Rozlin, they came up with a tux with epaulets, a cutaway coat and a top hat for him and a multi-tiered bustle and train and high-heeled boots for her. Each wore wrist gauntlets, hers with an intricate cut-out pattern.

"We would have little duct tape sessions where we would both convene and work on the stuff that is central to both our outfits," she said.

They printed pages and pages of intricate gear patterns, then cut the shapes and sprockets out of tape with X-Acto knives. Rozlin covered shoes with tape, then turned them into unique, asymmetrical boots by building duct-tape shafts. Conner's top hat was made of tape on a poster board frame.

They spent about $90 on 34 rolls of tape and put in 50 hours or more of labor on the project.

"It cost us less to make the duct-tape dress and the duct-tape tux than it would to buy a dress and rent a tux," Rozlin said.

They knew their clothes would be warm and a little gummy from the adhesive, so they carried along less-cumbersome clothes for dancing at the prom.

If they win the contest, the $10,000 scholarships will come in handy.

Rozlin plans to study art at Western Michigan University this fall. Conner, who has finished a year at Lansing Community College, will transfer to Michigan Technological University.

Follow Kathleen Lavey on Twitter: @kathleenlavey

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