ONE man’s trash is another man’s riches and that is certainly the case for Year 9 pupils at St Joseph’s Boys’ School who have signed up to take part in the innovative Junk Kouture recycled fashion competition.
The boys have been busy these past few weeks collecting recycling trash from the playground and bagging it as they make a start on their design concepts for the competition, which celebrates the art of wearable junk by encouraging the pupils to design and model attire made from recyclable good such as old rope, tetra packs, tinned cans or pine cones.
The school’s participation in the competition is being facilitated by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Business Opportunities section, as part of its Fashion Fest 2015 schools programme.
Louise Breslin, Business Opportunities Manager says Council is delighted to get St Joe’s on board by providing the students with the opportunity to explore their creative side and to work alongside designers, textile producers and artists working in the fashion industry.
“Through the Fashion Fest schools programme we are delighted to be able to assign facilitators from the North West Regional College, the Ulster University, 4R’s Recycling Centre, Fablab and Seliena Coyle, the Fashion and Design Hub, UIster University and the Eden Arts Centre to work directly with St Joe’s pupils to come up with a series of concepts for the competition and to take them through the various steps of the process to create a number of creations for the Junk Kouture competition.
“Fashion Fest 2015 is a three day programme taking place in the city from 12-14 November, showcasing the city and district’s cutting edge designs and fashion trends. Derry has a fantastic reputation for style and last year’s event was a huge success and we are delighted to be once again affording existing and up and coming designers to showcase their talents. We are hugely excited to have St Joe’s Boys School on board through our schools programme and are delighted to offer them support in the Junk Kouture competition.”
Paddy McCourt is the teacher leading the project at St. Joe’s, he says while some students were initially dubious about being part of the project, excitement and interest has increased now that the facilitating workshops are up and running and their ideas are beginning to come to life.
“This is a great project for the boys to be involved in. Some of them were definitely a bit unsure about it to begin with, but once they sat down and discussed their ideas, created mood boards, went out and collected samples of recyclable material and met with the facilitators to discuss what items they can use for their designs – interest has soared and they are all really into it and excited about being part of it. It’s a fantastic way to get the boys to show their artistic and creative side as well as help reinforce the importance of recycling and reusing waste items.
“We feel very privileged to have all the support of Council and the facilitators to help us bring our ideas to fruition. We are looking forward to the Council’s Fashion Fest taking place in mid November, it is the perfect forum for the students to witness at first hand the wealth of talent that there is available and to give them ideas of careers and opportunities there are in the fashion and creative textile sector. You never know but this competition has the potential to kickstart a dream career for one of our pupils,” he added.
Junk Kouture is a national competition for second level students, which challenges teenagers to create high-end wearable fashion from everyday junk that would normally find its way into the bin. Junk Kouture aims to inspire and ignite passion in the teenagers while at the same time subtly educating them about the importance of recycling and reusing waste. Over the last four years, Junk Kouture has established itself as the premier recycled fashion competition for teenagers throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The Northern regional final of the Junk Kouture competition will be held in Derry’s Millennium Forum on 09 March next year.
Further details about the Fashion Fest can be found at www.derrystrabane.com/fashionfest
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