Aoife Porter who represented Junk Kouture in Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival. Aoife is from Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana.
Popular recycled fashion competition Junk Kouture hit the French Rivera with a bang during this year’s 66th Cannes Film Festival. Three winners who proved they could bring junk back to life with their designs were selected to travel to the South of France to enjoy the atmosphere during the Cannes Film Festival.
One of the teams to win the ‘Bank of Ireland Glamour Prize’, which saw them jet off to Cannes, was ‘Skin Deep’ – a plastic fantastic design, which uses plastic packaging and welded chain metal. This was designed and constructed by Orla O’Hagan and modelled by Aoife Porter, both from Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana. They were accompanied to the French Riviera by their proud teacher Mrs Veronica Buchanan. The team took part in numerous photo shoots whilst in Cannes and made appearances in the playground of the rich and famous – Monte Carlo! They weren’t the only celebrities in Cannes this week! They were joined by the Hollywood elite, including Leonardo DeCaprio, Stephen Spielberg and Nicole Kidman to name a few, who were in town for the annual Cannes Film Festival.
Junk Kouture, which is famed for transforming everyday waste and junk into pieces of high fashion art, has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2010. It has seen thousands of teenagers’ work submitted with some spectacular and awe-inspiring pieces gracing the competition’s regional and national catwalks, as well as the red carpet at the Royal Première of ‘The Hobbit’ in London. Junk Kouture is the leading fashion and art competition for second level school students across Ireland and has a reputation, among many, as being the most creative.
The other designs which made their way to Cannes included ‘Pre-Madonna Girl’ from Monaghan – a white, lace creation crafted from broken pearls and discarded lace curtains; Bold as Brass – a creation inspired by the topical Great Gatsby and made with spend bullet cases from Clonmel and the overall winner of this year’s competition, ‘UltraVioletWash’ from Limerick, which is constructed from hundreds of clothes pegs and a tin of UV paint. All designers are second level students from across Ireland (exact details in editors’ notes).
Founder of Junk Kouture, Elizabeth O’Donnell from Buncrana had this to say about Junk Kouture’s appearance in Cannes: “Our ethos at Junk Kouture is to inspire and motivate all our entrants. We decided that following the success of Junk Kouture at the Royal Première last year we wanted to give our entrants another opportunity to showcase their designs at a high-scale event and also on an international level. This was our first time in Cannes and we loved every minute!”
Damien Daly, Director of Marketing had this to say about Bank of Ireland’s involvement with the Glamour Prize saying, “‘Bank of Ireland are delighted to sponsor the Junk Kouture Glamour Prize. The drive and passion shown by the students can be seen in their fantastic creations. A trip to the Cannes Film Festival is a once in a lifetime experience that no doubt will inspire more creative outfits from these young talented designers. This will be a big stepping stone to great careers in the fashion world.’’
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