Pretty in Plastic from Urban Plains on Vimeo.
Words by Mariah Lewis
The spacious room is warmly lit. Almost every random object imaginable lies cluttered around various workbenches and tables — everything from rubber ducks to headless mannequins. The faint smell of wood shavings and drying paint fills the air. Window dresser Jim Spizale is hard at work — not on his latest window design for the storefront of Midwest Clothiers in Des Moines but instead on an outfit made of Bubble Wrap.
“It’s not easy,” Spizale says. “The first couple of years there was a lot of cussing and frustration. Then we finally figured out, ‘OK, there’s got to be an answer to this.’” Spizale is a designer for ChildServe’s annual Bubble Ball, a fashion show featuring clothing exclusively made of Bubble Wrap. The reason for all the swearing? Bubble Wrap, Spizale says, is extremely difficult to sew together.
Fellow Bubble Wrap designer Brooke Van Sickle agrees with Spizale’s diagnosis, saying the toughest part of working with Bubble Wrap is getting tape and paint to stick on the plastic. She also has a hard time getting it to fit because the wrap isn’t exactly malleable.
“There’s a thing called a Teflon foot that you attach to the sewing machine,” Spizale says. “That makes it easier for the Bubble Wrap to kind of fuse together so it doesn’t tear as much. You’ve got to take it kind of slow, but there’s a way you can just fuse it right to the fabric and that makes it a lot easier.” But making clothes of Bubble Wrap is more than just, as Spizale’s daughter Annie puts it, a “weird, fun family” activity.
The Advent of a New Kind of Fundraiser
The Bubble Ball has been going on in Des Moines for six years. In 2014 Cheri Burns, ChildServe’s director of development and community relations, said the idea for the Bubble Ball originated with the 50th anniversary of Bubble Wrap. ChildServe needed a fundraiser. The anniversary was about to happen. Spark.
From Lady Gaga inspired looks, to The Beatles Yellow Submarine, every bubble-wrap ensemble showcased a unique design for this year's Bubbleball event, "Music Throughout the Ages." Photos by Morgan Cannata.
“The specialness is the 2,500 children we serve,” says Matt McConnell, ChildServe’s public relations specialist at the 2015 Bubble Ball. The 2016 Ball raised over $225,000.
“What’s really fun is being able to see how much money they collect just from the one event,” Spizale says. “If you can be a part of that and help them raise money, it’s just a ball.”
A Tornado in a Sea of Bridal Gowns
When Spizale began designing for the Bubble Ball he “had no idea what it was.”
“I had a great time. It was a lot smaller back then. I did a tornado because there was no theme,” Spizale says. “People were designing furniture, bridal gowns and dresses.” He wanted his design to stand out from plethora of bridal wear.
“Bubble Wrap kind of looks [like] clouds, so we painted clouds, different colors of blue just kind of swirling up,” Spizale says. “It was about 4 or 5 feet tall, and it had little animals, houses and things getting sucked up into it. It was just a little sculpture, [but we] had a lot of fun with it.”
Since his stationary tornado design, Spizale has kept creating Bubble Wrap costumes and props including a magician, the Cheshire Cat, and characters from “Star Wars” and “Monsters, Inc.”
“As it progressed,” Spizale says, “I did a stationary object each year and then finally, I thought, ‘Well, all the fun is doing the runway.’”
The 2016 Bubble Ball’s theme was “Music Through the Ages.” The Spizale family designed Beatles costumes based on the “Yellow Submarine” animated film.
“I think if you’re under a controlled substance, it probably makes a lot more sense,” Spizale says, referring to the movie. “Because it doesn’t really go anywhere … but there’s a lot of color in it.”
Sometimes that’s enough.
From Windows to Bubble Wrap
Spizale’s day job helps him with the creative process for coming up with costumes. He’s the visual manager for Midwest Clothiers, working on window displays. His warehouse workspace is home to bizarre props with innumerable themes. Talent for creative design runs in the Spizale family, so his profession is predictable.
“I’ve been in merchandising all my life,” Spizale says. “My dad was actually a New York City window dresser in the 1940s, and he moved to Minneapolis, which is my hometown, shortly after the war. He just got me and my two brothers involved, and we all just kind of had a knack for it.” Spizale says it’s a weird line of work his family took up. But as far as he’s concerned, he has the most interesting job in the company.
Bubble Wrap: The Next Generation
Design work continues down the Spizale bloodline; Jim’s daughter Annie works alongside him to create Bubble Wrap costumes.
“We all kind of pitch in and do as much as we can,” Annie says. Jim and Annie work on the costumes in the basement of Midwest Clothiers.While Annie enjoys creating the costumes and sticking psychedelic paisley duct tape around wire bell-bottom pant legs, that’s not why she enjoys spending time with yards of unpopped Bubble Wrap.
“For me, it’s a fun thing to do with my family,” Annie says. “It’s kind of a weird thing to do. I lived in Oregon for about 13 years, moved back home, and my dad would send me pictures every year of stuff he would create. When I came back, he asked me if I wanted to do the runway that year, so I said yes. It’s for a good cause for the community. I love seeing what other people come up with. It’s not something I would normally do — ever. But since my dad’s into it he, got me into it.”
The Spizales say they want to continue designing and have already made plans for next year. Annie has a special addition she hopes the 2017 Bubble Ball will bring.
“I want to make a centaur,” Annie says. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the first year.”
