Minn. high school student’s dress is one of a kind

Published 1:57 pm Saturday, April 27, 2013

BRAINERD — A Minnesota high school student’s unique prom dress is an ode to commencement and the journey ahead.

Rin Heise will be a walking globe at Brainerd High School’s senior prom Saturday. Her hand-crafted dress is pieced together from old National Geographic maps and reinforced inside with pages of Dr. Seuss’ book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”

“It’s a montage of graduating and moving on,” said Lois Fischer, Heise’s mother, said. “They (seniors) will be going great places and doing great things.”

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The mother and daughter began working on the dress last week and created a prototype with brown paper. Through trial and error, they learned how to fit the dress so Heise could dance or sit without tearing it.

Then, they cut seven 1978 National Geographic maps and two Dr. Seuss books and glued the dress together.

The older maps are perfect, Heise said. The plastic-feel of the older maps adds a gloss and extra strength, she added.

The bottom half hangs near Heise’s knees, with flaps a few inches wide hanging from the skirt’s sides and back. A halter top is held up by straps and a sash encircles the waist.

“It’s a little piece of art work,” Fischer said.

“It’s great to take something you look at every day and make it into something new,” Fischer said. “Something ordinary can be very beautiful.”