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Peyton Manker’s dreams and prayers of the grand prize in the Duck Brand Stuck-At-Home Duct Tape Prom Dress competition have been answered. She was the grand-prize winner for her pandemic dress. Peyton wins a $10,000 scholarship for college.
Manker’s goal with her duct tape prom dress centered around the theme of the coronavirus as it affected her during her senior year of high school in Sparta. Peyton also wanted to honor essential workers in light of the pandemic.
“Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming amount of support!,” Peyton excitedly said on Wednesday. “Not only did I win but so did my friend, Ashton, in the tux competition! This entire experience has been crazy, I'm likely to never have an experience quite like this one again. I spent 395-plus hours (I lost count) making this dress and accessories and used 41 rolls of duct tape on my Stuck-At-Home Prom 2020 duct tape dress.”
These were Peyton’s own words about the dress/accessories and process:
"The coronavirus pandemic became my inspiration for the dress once it hit the USA, taking my peers and me out of school and canceling our senior prom. I chose to represent how the coronavirus affected not only us but the world through the artwork I created myself. Also wanting to stand out, I designed my dress to be a large, paneled, ball-gown style with ruffles at the top and many intricate designs. Such designs are the golden coronavirus accents on the bottom of the dress as well as on the pockets. The other intricate designs are showcased on the panels. Each is a work of art representing something different.
“To start off, the front left panel design represents those on the front line such as doctors, physician assistants, nurses, janitors, postal workers, police officers, construction workers, the military, grocery workers, restaurant workers, firefighters, etc. For the front middle panel, I created a man who represents mental illness during quarantine whether it be due to isolation, worry, fear, or even being affected personally by the virus. The front right design is meant to be a virtual 2020 graduation through video chat. I created this design when the possibility of having a virtual graduation was only a joke among my peers but eventually, it became a reality for my classmates and I. The back left and right panels are meant to be one design. It showcases a woman infected with the virus as well as a man trying to protect himself from it using his mask as a shield.
“The final panel design represents the world trying to run from the virus both figuratively and literally. Other nationalities are represented through clothing.
I realize that the coronavirus is not green, however, these colors better fit my color scheme and allow the dress to be more vibrant. The design placed on the top part of the dress represents social distancing and six feet guidelines. As my final design, the face mask represents how taking protective measures, such as wearing a face mask, helps to flatten the curve. A majority of my accessories are based on the coronavirus with my purse being an actual coronavirus!
“For the rest of my accessories, I made an arm bouquet with toilet paper accents to shed light on the lack of toilet paper during this time and the frustration people experienced during this shortage. I also made a hairpiece with the words, 'Separately Together', to let people know that even though we are separated, we can still get through this together. Lastly, I made an anklet spelling out, "This Too Shall Pass." The reason I chose to place this saying on an anklet is that it can be forgotten.”
Peyton was so appreciative of the boundless amount of people who voted for her in the dress competition: "Thank you for voting and I am happy that I was able to bring a smile to so many people's faces."
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