Junk takes to catwalk
29 January 2013
Recycling takes to the catwalk on Friday March 8th 2013 when the Millennium Forum in Derry/Londonderry hosts the regional final of a national recycling competition for second level students in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
It challenges teenagers to create high-end wearable fashion from everyday junk that would normally find its way into the bin.
Appropriately taking place during Climate Week the Junk Kouture event - in association with the European Recycling Platform - aims to inspire and ignite passion in these teenagers while at the same time subtly educating them about the importance of recycling and reusing waste for the good of the planet.
Backed by Rethink Waste, the Department of Environment's established programme, the competition is launched annually in September to coincide with teenagers returning to school.
A maximum of three students can work on each outfit and then have it submitted by the 31st January the following year to qualify. The rules stipulate that the outfit must be made from reworked trash or other used materials that are beyond their intended purpose.
The next step involves the judges whittling the entrants down to just 80 outfits per region - north, south, east and west.
Subsequently the students must choreograph a performance to showcase their outfit on the catwalk in one of four regional theatres - including the high profile Derry/Londonderry regional final - with just 90 seconds to impress on the catwalk with the 20 highest scoring outfits progressing to the grand final.
Each region battles it out to be crowned champion and walk away with over €20,000 worth in prizes. This year's grand final will take place in The Bord Gais Theatre, Dublin.
Created in 2010 by North West entrepreneurs Elizabeth O'Donnell and Troy Armour, the Junk Kouture competition has seen thousands of school children's work submitted, with some spectacular and awe-inspiring work gracing the competition's regional and national catwalks.
Last year's Junk Kouture Northern region winning outfit by Jose Verandes from Holy Trinity College Cookstown can be viewed at the Rethink Waste Facebook page.
