Tipperary school unveil their amazing 2024 Junk Kouture designs

The Ursuline Thurles has ten hopefuls entered in the 2024 Junk Kouture competition.

The teams have worked hard on their sustainable fashion attire for the last number of months, bringing their outfits from an initial idea to drawings to sourcing rubbish to use as materials, to designing, making and finally modelling ten very different and unique dresses.

Shades of Blue was designed by Ella Heaney, Alanna Maher and Ciara Collins. They used children’s books, loofahs, recycled wool and leather to create a gorgeous dress complete with a train.

Sophie Coughlan, Ciara Corcoran and Florineae O’Donnell brought archaeological survey flags, blinds, sandbags and buttons together in a vibrant burst of floral design named Blossom of Time.

They accessorised it with a hat, necklace and earrings. The circus was the theme chosen by Maria Taaffe, Marta Suska and Nikola Blaszczyk.

Make ‘Em Laugh consists of a discarded tent and umbrella as well as onion bags and milk bottles, which were transformed to resemble a big top, complete with a spinning carousel headpiece.

The riches-to-rags-to-riches tale of Cinderella is the basis for Stuck at Midnight, with Aisling Stanley, Róisin Phillips and Ciara Ryan turning medical masks, hair nets, hospital bedsheets and CDsinto a fairy tale delight.

Flowy pink material and hundreds of pearls were worked into a striking oriental look by Valeria Ulianova, Christine Wong and Holly Kiely.

Not Your Culture is made from a foam mat, jewellery, a recycled dress and curtains.

Oceania is heavily influenced by Spanish culture and the team included both Irish and Spanish exchange students, Síofra O’Loughlin, Maria Aguilar and Sofia Casado.

Their flamingo-style dress was designed using cast-off denim, wood, CDs and material from discontinued curtain sample books.

The heavy, black plastic curtain used on trucks, called tautliner, was one of the main materials sourced by team members Aoife Coyle, Ellen Jordan and Rhianna Dollard.

From this, they produced a bodice and skirt, which was further embellished with washers and seatbelts and topped off with a mitre-like headpiece.

Limitless Model shows that lorry parts can be transformed into a thing of beauty. Inspired by the success of Tipperary jockey Rachel Blackmore, trio Anna O’Callaghan, Julia McHugh and Sophie Quirke, worked with silks, rosettes, horseshoes and saddles.

They made a diadem and Lady Liberty-style dress in silver and different blues, which they named Race to the Finish.
Lily Murphy, Tessa Kearney and Emma Fogarty brought together baling wrap, bottle caps, a tennis net and aluminium cans into a contrasting light/dark couturier creation.

They completed their look, called Chiaroscuro, with an eye-catching butterfly sash design that they continued to the high collar at the back for a dramatic throwback to the sixteenth century.

Vision Zero is a dress that has a strong road safety message. Created by Tara Johnson, Christina Whelan and Caitlín Cussen using copper wire, seatbelts, bike wheels and high viz jackets, they finished their figure-hugging, fishtail purple and black entry with a spectacularly high headdress.

The finished Ursuline Junk Kouture collection of 2024 was showcased to the school and parents on Thursday, 18 January, with the models taking to a specially built runway in the Sr Ursula Memorial Hall.

It was a very exciting school fashion show where the audience got to see the amazing things that can be done with apparently ‘useless’ stuff.

Well done to all teams on producing Junk Kouture entries of such a high standard and to the teachers who helped and supported them, Mr English, Ms Annette Flanagan and Ms Erica Flanagan.

The teams now await results to find out if they have qualified for the South East Regional Final and soon after the All-Ireland Final.

Contributed to School Days in the Tipperary Star by the Ursuline Secondary School, Thurles.