Phoebe Anderson (10) has acquired a not so small hobby, she transforms one man’s trash into the next man’s treasure, also known as trashion.

Anderson had always considered herself artsy, doodling both on herself and her school work. She would sketch ideas for different headbands to support her company Crazy Headband Girl, a fundraiser Anderson created to pay for a trip to Europe. In her free time in middle school, Anderson would create headbands decorated with ribbons and beads, as well as earrings and hairclips to be displayed in various venues around Memphis, including the Trolley Stop and Sachi.

Three years ago, Anderson stumbled upon the Trashion Show, an annual fundraiser hosted by Memphis City Beautiful to raise money to support clean-up projects in the city. Participants are required to design clothing out of trash items, and guests bids on their favorite items in the silent auction.

Normally, this show is for big name companies in the city, but the then eighth grader entered anyway, and the tradition began. After two months of toil, Anderson arrived at the event dressed in her magazine skirt, ripped-up t-shirt and a pair of bottle cap earrings.

“I just started [creating bottle cap earrings] the first year. I’d made them the night before my first show, and I really loved them. I started doing that for every show. I make a new pair every year,” Anderson said.

The audience really loved them too. The next year, they went to auction for $50.

Through the Trashion Show, a window of opportunity was opened to Anderson.

Curbside Couture, a fundraiser to support artists in Little Rock put on by The Clinton Foundation, became her next endeavor. This show is tailored more toward students, with cash prizes for the top four contestants.

Anderson stepped up her game for this show, having everyone she knew collect soda cans to be flattened. When she had enough, Anderson fashioned the flattened cans with hot glue into a mini skirt. Discovering a hidden gem in her mother’s house, Anderson splatter-painted a huge sheet of leftover canvas with oil paint and pastel. She then cut it to be sewed into a crop top which laced up the back.

Anderson did not place, but she said just being there was fun and interesting because of all the avant-garde designs from the other contestants.

This past year, Anderson returned to the Curbside Couture with a completely off the wall idea.

“[My ideas] get more interesting every year. The skirt was made out of toilet paper tubes with a hip string and the skirt under that was bubble wrap,” Anderson said. “The toilet paper tubes were all strung together like a maxi skirt, and the bubble wrap was like a petticoat under it. The top this year was a yin yang symbol. That was something I’d always drawn on my hand.”

With that in mind, she created the top from recycled vinyl and milk carton tabs with the closure still on them.

Each year, contestants must present their ideas to the judges before they are accepted into the show. This past year, 135 entries were submitted; however, only 85 were chosen.

“It was like an evaluation; you bring in what you have of your outfit, your sketch and your concept, and you pitch your concept to them. They give their feedback on them, and they collaborate to see which things got accepted into the show,” Anderson said.

Again, a last minute addition proved to be successful for Anderson. Not having a concept already in mind, Anderson decided on a bohemian natural style as she was walking into her evaluation.

A surprise awaited Anderson in her evaluation as two-time Project Runway runner-up Korto Momolu was seated among the three judges.

“It was really, really cool to get to meet her because I’ve seen her season of the show, and it was really interesting and really helpful to get feedback from different personal designers. They all had different fortes,” Anderson said.

While all the judges were impressed by Anderson’s concept, Korto specifically commented on the originality of the skirt. Of course, everyone loved her signature bottle cap earrings.