Newspaper dress makes a statement

GENOA – When Jennifer Kohler was looking for ideas for her daughter Laura’s senior photos, she turned to local photographer Pam Lopez of PL Portraiture for inspiration.

“I wanted to do something different because my mom was a photographer, and dancing has been (Laura’s) life since she was 2 1/2,” Jennifer Kohler said.

Lopez conceived a ballet tutu constructed almost entirely of neatly-folded newspapers – specifically, issues of the MidWeek.

“The idea comes from wanting to do something different for the seniors,” Lopez said. “They like something edgy. They are tired of posing against trees.”

Laura Kohler posed in the tutu in front of her mother's salon, Cutter’s Family Hair Care, in downtown Genoa as Lopez took photos.

“When people were driving by I got some points and a few odd looks,” Laura Kohler said. Laura's friends have not seen the photos of the newspaper dress yet, but most are not surprised by her unconventional choice of attire.

"People said they could definitely see me doing something like that," Laura Kohler said.

Lopez, who was a clothing designer before she was a photographer, found some patterns online and modified them to create the tutu, using staples and cellophane tape on a mannequin she had at home.

The dress took one day to make, and Jennifer Kohler said it fit perfectly the first time Laura tried it on.