Soldier by day, designer by night to showcase at Runaway Runway competition

Marcus Hardin learned how to sew because he needed an extra elective to fill his senior year schedule in high school.

Now more than 20 years later, the Army sergeant first class designs unique and innovative clothing and jewelry. He will put his design skills to the test, incorporating X-ray film, antique curtains and mussel shells into a dress for the Runaway Runway design competition, which challenges designers to use post-consumer trash to create clothing.

This will be Hardin’s third year participating in the competition presented by the Columbia Design League, which will be held at the Columbia Museum of Art on Saturday, April 11. His past designs include a dress made of mammography film and a belt and choker made of coins he drilled holes through.

Hardin first put his sewing skills to work trying to reupholster seats on a vintage car. He bought the 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air to restore as a hobby when he was stationed in San Antonio at age 22. When he heard shops would charge up to $2,000, he decided to take on the project with the sewing skills he learned in high school.

“I said, ‘For $2,000, I can do it myself,’” Hardin said. “I bought a sewing machine, did it myself and did a better job.”

Shortly after, he discovered a knack for clothing design. When he was stationed in Germany, he ran a small business out of his home, creating custom clothing and jewelry from unique materials he bought when traveling around Europe on the weekends.

“I started out making one or two outfits here or there and it turned into me selling more things that I made than things I bought from manufacturers,” Hardin said. “People would leave my house and go to the club, and I would take off to Amsterdam or Paris and learn more about fashion and jewelry and pick up items that I couldn’t get anywhere else.”

Hardin is currently stationed at Fort Jackson and works as the assistant non-commissioned officer in charge of the department of radiology at the Moncrief Army Community Hospital. He’s still designing and selling custom clothing and jewelry when he’s not working at the hospital or doing army drills.

“It’s very, very hard to do, being active military,” Hardin said. “I do all of that on my off time and when I get off work ... I’ll be sitting in my office at lunchtime, doing push-ups or something and my ideas will pop up and I’ll draw it on a napkin and go home at night and work on them.”

Hardin knows his two careers are not ones often paired together – and that he doesn’t fit the typical mold of a fashion designer.

“I’m a 230-pound African-American male ... I look like I should be playing linebacker or running a football, not sewing,” he said. “But I’m more than what people think I am. Thre’s a lot of talent in this green uniform.”

The combat veteran in his 19th year of military service hopes to open his own high-end boutiques in Charleston, Miami and Europe when he retires in 2017. He’s currently taking fashion design in Charleston, working towards his second college degree.

“I’m like Drake,” Hardin says with a laugh, referencing the popular rapper. “I just want to be successful.”

If you go: Runaway Runway, Columbia Museum of Art, 1515 Main St. Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m. $25, tickets can be purchased at columbiadesignleague.org

Amanda Coyne

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Soldier by day, designer by night to showcase at Runaway Runway competition."