Yorkville Teens Design Promwear with Duck Tape

junior Ali Hester probably won’t pin a boutonniere on her boyfriend of two years before prom Saturday.

She’ll use duct tape, instead.

In fact, most of their outfits are constructed from duct tape. The pair designed and made a dress, suit and accessories from Velcro, tissue paper, a bit of wire and 41 rolls of duct tape in black, silver, pink and two shades of green.

Hester’s boyfriend, senior Scott King, joked about fashioning duct-tape wear with a friend his freshmen year, but he and Hester have dedicated more than 200 hours to their project in the past few months.

They plan to enter a scholarship contest sponsored by Duck, a major duct tape brand, that will award scholarships to ten couples who wore their product to prom. The first-place winners get $5,000 each.

“It’s been a lot of work just coming after practice and working on it,” Hester said. “But I don’t really do anything else but sit and relax after practice.

“It was a good use of our time,” she joked.

Her dress has a one-shoulder bodice covered by dozens of leaves and a hot pink mini surrounded by a longer hot pink panel. King will be sporting a black and silver suit with a hot pink shirt and bright green vest. Hester’s favorite part of the ensemble is the corsage and boutonniere, while King said he's partial to his shoes.

It’s a bit of a change from last year, when Hester wore an orange borrowed dress with a beaded bodice that inspired King to wear an orange vest.

They expect they’ll attract some attention – and their share of questions – Saturday, when Yorkville plays host to its prom at a hotel and convention center in Sandwich.

“I’ve already got a ton of questions,” Hester said. “I’m expecting everyone to be coming up to our table and asking, ‘How did you do that?’”

But they’re also hoping they’ll get the chance to compete for online votes. The Duck tape contest judges will pick 10 couples based on workmanship, originality, use of color, accessories and use of duct tape, according to the contest website. Those finalists will be announced, and online voting will begin June 17.

Voting will end July 11, and the winners will be announced two days later.

A photo gallery of some of this year’s submissions is posted here, while photos of the 10 finalists from last year are posted on the contest’s main web page.