RED DEER, Alta. – Tara Duduman loves the weird and wacky items shown by American television talk-show host Rosie O’Donnell. Now she’s going to be one of them.
Duduman packed a candy-wrapper dress she wore to high school graduation this summer and headed to New York last week. She was scheduled to introduce the Sept. 30 episode of the show wearing her colorful wax paper finery.
During a phone call from her Penhold, Alta., acreage home, Duduman said the appearance came about because of a letter and a picture of the dress she sent to O’Donnell.
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She said she came up with the idea for the dress when she saw one of her friends folding Starburst candy wrappers into little interlinked chains.
It was one of those eureka moments: “I’m like ‘hey, I could make a dress out of that.’ “
The chewy candies come in brightly colored wrappers and it took 16,500 of them to make the creation.
Fortunately, said Duduman, she didn’t have to chow down all those candies to get enough material for the gown.
“Once we started taking the idea seriously, because at first it seemed like just a joke, we wrote to the Starburst company.”
The manufacturer was sweet enough to ship a whack of wrappers and the project was off and running.
“My mom, surprisingly, did not flip out, and actually she got excited about the idea and she was a real help. My sister got into it and two of my friends, Rachel Kurtz and Katie Richards. They were all a real help.
“I’ve always been the kind of person who wants to have original ideas,” said Duduman. “If someone gives me a weird idea, I’m not afraid to follow through with it.”
The finished product was made from long chains of wrappers, with the bodice reinforced with glue and the skirt section free-flowing chains.
“It was a complete dress, but unless you had an under-dress, it wasn’t a very modest one.”
