Six Westmeath schools reach Junk Kouture regional finals

by Mya Gill

Westmeath has had great success in this year's Junk Kouture competition with eleven different outfits from six different schools qualifying for the regional finals in Dublin.

Moate Community School had designs qualified named Brewing Memories, Eyeconic and Recipe for Renaissance, while Mercy Secondary School Kilbeggan also had three qualifiers for the regional finals, Giving It Socks, Reclaimed By Roots and Wonder Of The Western World.

There were two designs from Athlone Community College chosen for the regional final, Crochet Couture and Reef-Lection and one each from Our Lady's Bower (Celtic Carnival), Wilson's Hospital School (Bra-vo) and Loreto College Mullingar with Electro Glam.

Junk Kouture is a global sustainable fashion competition for students aged 12 to 19 that challenges students to create a high-end wearable outfit from 100% recycled materials and everyday junk. The competition which originally started in Ireland has now branched out to five other countries, UK, France, Italy, USA and the UAE making the competition extremely prestigious.

It is a huge success for the local students to have reached the regional finals, as only 180 were picked across country. Each group has worked extremely hard to design and craft their outfits since the start of the school year making amazing designs using all kinds of materials, like Irish dancing trophies to contact lenses for your eyes. While creating their outfits they also had to keep in mind a sustainability goal to help work towards a better planet for everyone.

The regional finals will be held at The Helix in Dublin from March 9 to 11. Tickets to this event will be first available to finalist schools and any remainder tickets will go on general sale at a later date.

From here a number of designs will qualify from the regional final to the Dublin City final. Ten outfits will then be selected to represent Ireland at the Junk Kouture World Final.