The Paper Fashion Show is one of the most creative runway events in Colorado, bringing together artists, designers, stylists, and imaginative minds to create couture fashion made almost entirely from paper. And this year, my niece, Caley Kenney, helped design an award-winning look that completely stole attention on the runway.
When most people hear “paper dress,” they imagine something simple. But the Paper Fashion Show is anything but that. These designs are sculptural, detailed, dramatic, and incredibly artistic. Every fold, texture, curve, and silhouette is carefully constructed by hand using premium papers transformed into wearable art.
After the runway event, we brought Caley’s paper dress outdoors for a creative portrait session with a model, and honestly, it deserved another stage.
If you’ve searched for the Denver Paper Fashion Show because you’re curious about the event, wondering how the dresses are made, or looking for inspiration from past award-winning designs, this post will give you a closer look behind the scenes.
Table of Contents
What Is the Denver Paper Fashion Show?
The Paper Fashion Show has become one of Colorado’s most recognizable art and fashion events. Designers transform paper into elaborate couture pieces that walk a full runway in front of judges, photographers, artists, and fashion enthusiasts.
For more than two decades, the event has highlighted Colorado creativity through wearable paper art. Hundreds of paper fashions have been created over the years, ranging from avant-garde concepts to highly wearable editorial-style looks. Designers use specialty papers donated by leading paper companies and suppliers, then spend weeks—or sometimes months—turning flat sheets into dimensional garments.
And these aren’t elementary-school paper projects.
The craftsmanship involved in the Denver Paper Fashion Show is extraordinary. Designers engineer structure, movement, texture, and durability into every piece. Some dresses include layered sculptural work. Others use weaving, folding, pleating, cutting, or hand-shaped details that almost make you forget the material is paper at all.
The creativity on display is what makes the Denver Paper Fashion Show so fascinating to watch year after year.
The Award-Winning “2000s” Paper Dress
This year, Caley Kenney and Stella Bertsch designed a paper fashion piece called 2000s for Team Dahlia, and the look earned the event’s Star Student Award.
Inspired by early 2000s fashion, the dress blended nostalgia with bold runway styling. Layered textures, sculptural details, and playful design choices gave the piece personality and energy from every angle.
The styling felt confident. Fun. Fearless.
One of the most impressive things about the Denver Paper Fashion Show is how collaborative the process can be. Designers aren’t just sketching clothing. They’re creating a complete visual experience involving styling, structure, movement, hair, makeup, presentation, and storytelling.
Why the Denver Paper Fashion Show Is So Inspiring
Paper is not forgiving.
Unlike fabric, it tears. It creases. It reacts differently under stress and movement. Designers have to think creatively about how to build garments that are visually stunning while still surviving transportation, fittings, rehearsals, and the runway itself.
That challenge is part of the magic.
The Denver Paper Fashion Show intersects fashion design, engineering, sculpture, and art in such a unique way. The competition pushes designers to experiment in ways traditional fashion often doesn’t. It rewards innovation and imagination.
Watching the runway is inspiring on its own.
But hearing what happens behind the scenes—the long nights, problem solving, redesigns, repairs, excitement, panic, teamwork, and final adrenaline before the show—is what makes you appreciate these paper fashions even more. Keep reading for an even closer inside look into what it’s like to be a designer.
Documenting the Dress
After the runway event, we photographed the dress outdoors with a new model, and it was incredible seeing the design in a completely different environment on a new girl.
Runway lighting highlights movement and drama.
Natural light reveals texture.
Outside, you could suddenly see the sculptural elements, layered paper details, and craftsmanship in a whole new way. The dress almost looked like editorial couture pulled straight from a high-fashion magazine spread.
The contrast between delicate paper construction and the natural outdoor setting made the entire session feel artistic and unexpected—which honestly fits the spirit of the Denver Paper Fashion Show perfectly.
Creative portrait sessions like this are always some of my favorites because they tell a bigger story than traditional portraits alone. This wasn’t just documenting a dress. It was preserving months of imagination, collaboration, and hard work.
FAQ With Caley Kenney
How many years have you been a designer in the Paper Dress Fashion Show?
I have personally designed in the Paper Dress Fashion Show three different times. Although I have only participated for a few years, the show itself has been running for over 20 years and has become such a unique and well-known creative event in Denver. It’s incredible to be part of something with such a long history and tradition, especially because it brings together so many talented designers and artists in one place.
Will you keep participating?
This is such a unique and rewarding event that I definitely plan to continue participating in the future. Even though the process requires an incredible amount of time and effort, the experience is completely worth it in the end.
One of the most special things about the Paper Fashion Show is that Denver is one of the only places that hosts an event like this. Opportunities like this are very rare, and it’s amazing to be part of something so creative and original. The show allows artists and designers to push themselves creatively in ways that traditional fashion does not.
Being involved in the event has helped me grow both artistically and personally, and I would absolutely love to continue designing for the show in the years ahead.
How many awards have you won?
In 2023, our design won second place out of 43 different designers in the competition and this year we got the star student award. These are incredibly exciting moment for us because the level of creativity and talent in the show is always so high. We never really go into the competition expecting to place, so being recognized for our work feels extremely rewarding and motivating.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Each year, the show is centered around a different theme, and that theme really drives our creative inspiration and overall design process. The first year I participated, the theme focused on art masters, while the 2024 theme was cabaret. This year’s theme was “20 Years Folded in Time,” which inspired us to reflect on the early 2000s since that was the era we were born into.
For our design, we incorporated butterflies to represent both early 2000s fashion trends and the idea of personal growth and transformation. We wanted the dress to symbolize where we started, where we are now, and where we see ourselves heading in the next 20 years. A lot of our inspiration comes from combining fashion, storytelling, and personal meaning into one final piece.
How many total hours does a single dress take?
The amount of time it takes to create a dress can vary depending on the complexity of the design, but most of our dresses take between 200 and 400 total hours when combining everyone’s work.
The actual building phase takes about a month of very intense work. During that time, we spend countless hours folding paper, constructing details, troubleshooting problems, and perfecting every part of the dress. It’s definitely a major commitment, but the final result makes all the hard work worth it.
Tell me about the process of making the dress.
From the moment we receive the theme, we usually spend around six months brainstorming ideas, sketching concepts, and planning out all of the individual elements that will eventually come together into the final dress. A huge part of the process involves creating small handcrafted pieces before we can even begin assembling the garment itself.
For one of our dresses, we hand-rolled over 600 paper beads individually. For this dress, to build the skirt, we created structured folds and layered paper pieces together to give it shape and movement. The corset was especially detailed because we measured an actual top on our model and carefully cut and fitted the paper to match her body exactly. Some sections of the top were even sewn together to help with structure and support.
One of the most time-consuming details was the gold embellishment piece. I used a hole punch to create hundreds of tiny paper circles, then individually placed them by hand with tweezers onto a mannequin using Mod Podge. Afterward, we spray-painted the entire piece gold to create the finished metallic look.
To add even more dimension, we incorporated 50 LED lights into the dress so the skirt would glow during the runway presentation. Every part of the dress is handmade, and because the material is paper, it requires a lot of patience, precision, and problem-solving throughout the entire process.
Tell me about preparing for the event once the dress is done – the excitement, the drama, the feelings, getting the dress to the show, everything!
The week leading up to the event is always incredibly stressful and exciting at the same time. Most years, we finish the dress only a few days before the show (sometimes even the day before) so there is always a rush to complete the final details and make sure everything is secure.
The morning of the event starts early. We carefully fit the dress onto the model and make any last-minute adjustments or repairs if needed. Because the dresses are made entirely out of paper, even small movements can cause tearing or damage, so we are constantly checking every detail.
After that, we head to the hair and makeup appointments. We work closely with the stylists and show them our inspiration for the look so they can bring the vision to life. For this particular design, we created dramatic jeweled eye makeup and styled the hair into two space buns with gold jewelry woven throughout. The styling really helped complete the futuristic early-2000s-inspired theme.
Once hair and makeup are finished, we move on to the photoshoot before preparing backstage for the runway show itself. There are always unexpected challenges along the way — paper can rip, pieces can loosen, or parts of the dress may need emergency repairs — so we’ve learned how to stay calm and quickly fix problems under pressure. Despite the stress, there’s also a lot of excitement because seeing the final look come together is incredibly rewarding.
Tell me about the night of the event and what’s it’s like to attend, see all the dresses, and then find out how you did
Attending the event is always an amazing experience because the community surrounding the Paper Fashion Show is so supportive and creative. One of my favorite parts is seeing how every designer interprets the same theme in completely different ways. It’s inspiring to walk around and see all the unique dresses, techniques, and artistic ideas people create entirely out of paper.
I also draw a lot of inspiration from the other designers and their creativity. There’s such a wide range of styles and concepts, and it pushes all of us to think outside the box.
Backstage during the runway portion, everyone is holding their breath while the models walk out because paper is such a delicate material. We’re all hoping nothing tears, breaks, or falls apart under the runway lights. Once the dress successfully makes it down the runway, there’s a huge sense of relief and accomplishment.
When awards are announced, we never really expect to place because the competition is so talented every year. That’s what makes it even more exciting when our work is recognized. No matter the outcome, the experience itself always feels rewarding because of how much effort, creativity, and teamwork goes into each design.
Go See The Denver Paper Fashion Show!
There’s something deeply inspiring about seeing young designers push boundaries so fearlessly. The Star Student Award especially highlights emerging talent and reminds everyone watching that creativity is alive and thriving in every generation.
Caley and Stella’s 2000s design did exactly that.
It felt imaginative. Bold. Nostalgic. Artistic. And completely unforgettable.
If you ever have the opportunity to attend the annual Denver Paper Fashion Show, go. You can buy tickets at the Paper Fashion Show website.
Seeing these designs in person gives you an entirely new appreciation for the artistry, engineering, and dedication behind every piece.
And if you’re here because you were searching for inspiration from the Denver Paper Fashion Show, I hope this gave you a closer look into the creativity behind one unforgettable paper dress.
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