Ferndale Teen Finalist in Duck 
Tape Prom Dress Contest(C. Proxmire, June 15, 2015)
Rebecca Phoenix found inspiration combining Vincent VanGogh’s “Starry Night”paintings and the magic of Duck Tape, and now she is in the running for a scholarship as part of the Duck Tape brand “Stuck at Prom” contest.
She and friend Emily Bellaver are finalists in the online competition, where they could win a $25,000 package ($10,000 will be awarded to each individual of the winning couple, as well as $5,000 for the school that sponsored the Prom attended by the winning couple). Vote at http://stuckatprom.readysetpromo.com/vote-gp.html
Phoenix, who just graduated from Ferndale High School, enlisted the help of fellow FHS student Emily Bellaver. The pair of dresses took 25 rolls of tape and 234 hours to put together. Keeping with the highly artistic theme, the teens then spent a day being pampered and having a photo shoot at the Detroit Institute of Arts thanks to the mothers in the Ferndale community. Cheryl Salinas-Tucker from Rouge Makeup and Nail Studio added her own artistic touches, and Stein from Through Luna’s Eyes made masterpiece-quality hairstyles. Captured by the photography skills of Nan Kerr-Mueller, the picture-perfect dresses were chosen as one of the top ten finalists from dresses made all across the country.
“Our outfits accomplish the 2 goals we set for our selves all the way back in 8th and 7th grade,
be amazing and be memorable. We chose our favorite artists Vincent van Gogh as inspiration for our designs. It ties in with our favorite prom them “a night under the stars” with a high fashion and classic art twist. “The Starry Night” is the dominating version of the night, full of twists and cosmic turns. “Starry Night Over the Rhone” captures the romantic flow of an evening , looking up at the stars and seeing the reflections of life on the water. Hour after hour we spent layering over 800 duct tape flaps to replicate his powerful and definite brush strokes. The shoes purses and corsages all focuses on different details that are in both complete paintings. We really had a terrific and zen time making both ensembles,” Phoenix said in the contest description.
Phoenix is a 2015 graduate of Ferndale High School and will be attending Oakland Community 
College in the fall for her Associates and planning to eventually attend Wayne State University to study Museum Sciences. “Rebecca has been planning her duct tape dresses since the 8th grade, when she first heard about this contest. There is a whole sketch book filled with ideas, always coming back to her love of the Van Gogh Starry Night series of paintings. She created the technique of applying small, rolled flaps of duct tape to mimic van Gogh’s bold painting style,” said her mother Jacki Smith. “Rebecca is so grateful to Emily for her support, encouragement and modeling to qualify for the grand prize of the contest. ”
Bellaver will be a Senior at Ferndale High School in the fall and over the summer will be attending a class at College for Creative Studies to begin her pursuit of Digital Animation after she graduates. “Emily was very excited to support her friend Rebecca’s duct tape contest by modeling one of the prom dresses for her in a photo shoot at the DIA,” said her mother Pamela Smith Bellaver.
Votes are the key to the teens winning the scholarship. To vote go to: http://stuckatprom.readysetpromo.com/vote-gp.html.
