Holy Trinity’s trashy fashion hits the catwalk

Junk Kouture is a competition open to all secondary students across Ireland in which students are challenged to create wearable art and couture garments from recycled materials.

Following last year’s successful event, which saw over 1000 students enter, coordinator of Junk Kouture, Elizabeth O’Donnell said: “It’s such a great achievement for one school to have such a high finalist response and a huge credit to all involved - both the students who have put in so much effort and hard work to reach this stage, as well as their very supportive teachers.

“Both art teachers at Holy Trinity, Eimear and Eilish, have created a great environment for students, really encouraging them to be as creative as possible - and it shows!

“This is the second year the school has entered the competition and it is incredible to have six out of the 20 Northern qualifiers come from one school.”

The six finalists shone in successfully reworking their trash and other used materials beyond their intended purpose and crafting them into remarkable cutting-edge couture fashion. Through the competition Junk Kouture aims to educate students about waste and the value of reusing old junk while also encouraging them to create high fashion.

All competition entries are judged in three areas: recycling - how effectively the student used their junk; fashion – was the student able to combine the ‘wow’ factor with wearability and buying potential?; and finally, choreography and presentation - how well the student’s piece of music and choice of model’s hair and make-up performed during a two-minute catwalk.

This year Junk Kouture became ERP Junk Kouture following their sponsorship with ERP (European Recycling Platform).