Stuck at Prom top-10 finalists

By ASHLEY LUTHERN

aluthern@vindy.com

NEW SPRINGFIELD

A dress and tux that cost about $100 to create could yield $3,000 for the local teens who wore them.

Sara Cummings of Springfield and James Ludt of Struthers wore duct-tape attire to Cardinal Mooney High School’s prom May 14 and are now one of the top- 10 finalists in the 10th annual Stuck at Prom scholarship contest sponsored by Duck Tape. They were selected by the company out of 248 couples.

The Stuck at Prom contest begins today, and individuals can cast their vote for their favorite duct-tape outfits at www.duckbrand.com/Promotions/stuck-at-prom.aspx.

It took Cummings and Ludt 26 rolls of duct tape and 59 hours to make the purple, yellow and green outfits. Although the pair contributed equally to the production, Cummings, who graduated from Mooney this spring, designed them.

“I had a sketch about a year ago of a peacock theme,” Cummings said. “I was all excited ... and then the girl who won last year had a peacock outfit and I [thought] ‘We need to redo everything.’ I decided I wanted to do something with fringe like a lion.”

Cummings previously had made Halloween costumes and purses out of duct tape, but using the sticky strips was a new experience for Ludt.

“I’m not really too much of a duct-tape user,” Ludt said. “... The work putting it together was more meticulous than I thought it would be. It was quite a bit of work.”

Cummings bought a floor-length dress with a high neckline from Goodwill to use as a base.

“I cut it all up and pretty much made it into a whole new dress,” she said.

Cummings’ interest in sewing and fashion began when she was 4 years old, said her mom, Tina Cummings.

“She showed sheep [at fairs] ... and to show, you have to wear a wool or wool-blend outfit that you’ve sewn or someone else has sewn,” Tina Cummings said, adding that Sara’s grandmother taught her to sew and helped her in those early projects.

Sara Cummings will attend Youngstown State University in the fall and plans to study fashion merchandising.

In the voting process, the two couples with the lowest number of votes each week will be eliminated. The winner will be announced July 26. First prize earns $3,000 per person and $3,000 for the school.

“In the end, no matter what happens, if we’re the first out or win, I had a lot of fun doing it. I would do it again,” said Ludt, a spring Struthers graduate who also plans to attend YSU.