Nina Sysko’s dream came true.

The glamour. The dancing. Even the perfect dress: a rainbow-colored two-piece made from 2,000 tiny Starburst candy wrappers.

Yes, candy wrappers.

“I couldn’t walk across the floor without people taking pictures of me,” Sysko said.

For the past two years, the Lewiston High School senior braided, pasted and sewed thousands of candy wrappers into a formal gown. Earlier this month, she wore the finished product to the prom.

It wasn’t as traditional as her friends’ red and black evening gowns, and it didn’t match her boyfriend’s black tuxedo. But the sleeveless dress, with its stripes of Starburst color, was a hit.

Sysko came up with the idea for a Starburst dress about two years ago, after a friend showed her how to fold and braid the little paper wrappers into a chain. She knew that some high-schoolers have made prom dresses out of duct tape for a national scholarship contest.

But Sysko didn’t want duct tape. She wanted to be unique.

At first, she collected wrappers from friends. As word of her project spread, other kids at the school – strangers to Sysko – donated small bags of wrappers.

She folded them in secret during math class and during slow periods at her job at a local ice cream stand. She hoped to turn the braided links into the bodice of a dress. At home, she sewed and glued other wrappers to fabric for a skirt.

“It’s got all 16 Starburst colors,” Sysko said. “Except for the new ones. They came out too late.”

A teenager with an independent streak, Sysko refused help from friends and family. She’d never made a dress before but she had taken sewing classes in high school.

Days before the dance, though, the dress was still in pieces. And when she tried on the bodice, Sysko realized the braided wrappers were too stiff and didn’t fit properly.

She worked on the dress for three days before the prom, sewing through the night. She finished with only hours to spare. The braided bodice became a sash and Sysko created a new top by sewing wrappers to fabric.

“Everyone was counting on it. I didn’t want to let them down,” she said.

With braided wrappers as bracelets and slips of wrappers in her hair, she walked out the door May 14 for the prom. She was wearing the dress for the first time.

Movie star’

The snug, A-line skirt meant Sysko had to take small steps. But the wrappers stayed together. Nothing ripped.

Outside her home, Sysko’s father snapped photo after photo of his little girl in her Sunburst dress.

“We’re very proud of her creativity,” said Sysko’s mother, Holly Sysko. “I’m amazed at how smart she was in figuring out how to do it.”

At the Ramada Inn in Lewiston, her friends “oohed” and “awwed” over the creation. Across the ballroom, the dress looked so good that classmates thought she’d backed out of the project.

“From far away people were saying, Oh, she didn’t do the dress.’ Then they got closer,” she said.

Classmates stopped her constantly to get a closer look. Cameras flashed for her throughout the evening.

“I felt like a movie star,” she said.

At $2.50 for a bag of Starburst candies, Sysko’s dress cost about $62.50. Only slightly frayed on one edge, it now hangs in her bedroom closet.

Sysko will attend Goucher College in Maryland next fall. She plans to major in photography. But after the Starburst dress, she’s thinking about other careers, too.

Fashion design is near the top of the list.

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