The SFist offices are jazzed about the season finale of Project Runway tonight. Some of that is because this season was pretty lame compared to last, so we're just happy it's coming to a close and we can move on and forget. What we think would liven it all up would be better challenges, like this one: Take a box of donated thrift store clothes and make something beautiful out of them.

Oh snap! Someone's already done it. The St. Vincent de Paul Society challenged fashion design students from SFSU and FIDM to do just that and the results are really incredible. Take that Santino! IN YOUR FACE.

The students' work is inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement and, not so coincidentally perhaps, there's an upcoming international arts & crafts exhibit at the de Young.

Students were required to use donated clothing obtained from the Society's Vincentian Help Desk - a free service located in the Tenderloin that provides a fresh change of clothes and a dignified environment for the poor and homeless. The students then reconstructed the materials into fashion and art pieces inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 1800's. At least 50% of each creation is comprised of recycled, donated clothing from the Vincentian Help Desk.

The results - "Discarded to Divine" -of the designers de- and re-constructions are so spectacular and the deYoung Museum is hosting an exhibit of them on Friday, March 31st from 6-8:45pm. Check it out! We wish we had that kind of talent.

And of course none of this is happening just because people were bored during the reunion episode (though we sure were). The garments and accessories you see at the de Young will be auctioned off on April 6th in a silent auction and fashion show. There's space limited here, so please RSVP early and bring your cash. They suggest a $20 donation at the door but obviously you will give them much, much more and hopefully win the auction for the cape over on the right, our current fave. We wish we could promise you a walk off!

More pictures and descriptions after the jump!

To the right is a wedding dress made of napkins and hankies. From the designer, Sierra Zumwalt:

When I first visited the St. Vincent De Paul help desk and combed through the mass of clothing, I was most drawn to the multitude of old white handkerchiefs. I loved them for their delicacy and simplistic beauty but was unsure of what to do with them. I wanted to preserve them in their original condition, so I was left with the idea of a white garment. A wedding dress seemed to be the most appropriate option that would do justice to them. The entire dress is patch-worked together from these lovely old handkerchiefs and napkins. The wedding dress is built on an old apron with domestic images. The apron’s iconic images are hidden underneath the gown.

Lena Wernet, SFSU Art Department Textiles student, describes her dress “Evening Dress with Muff: from Masculine to Feminine” (left):

I wanted to take a garment that is worn by men (the cummerbund) and turn it into something feminine while retaining a sense of its original, formal elegance.

Previously we've expressed our love for the ads that St. Vincent de Paul did with Comcast and how straightforward they were. Since then, we've been seeing the ads all over TV (we do sometimes watch TV live and not through the magical commercial-free filter of TiVo). We're impressed with the unique ways St. Vincent de Paul tries to get people interested in their work and services.