Mayo students create Junk Kouture entry from Mayo News newspapers

STUDENTS from Balla Secondary School have created an entry for the Junk Kouture competition by using 30 editions of The Mayo News.
Junk Kouture is open to 12-19 year-olds and challenges young people to design, upcycle and create high end Kouture from recycled Junk, before showcasing their design and representing their school on stages across the world.
Students Ella Donovan, Sophie Cunnigham and Grace McHale spent almost three months on their creation.
Ella Donovan explains how their magnificent creation all came together.
“Our Junk Kouture design, aptly named 'Society’s Angel', draws inspiration from the iconic Victoria’s Secret Angel costumes. However, unlike the pristine and glamorous originals, our creation is crafted entirely from recycled Mayo News newspapers, cardboard, old shoes an old underskirt used can tabs and other recycled materials.
“This choice of materials not only emphasises the importance of recycling and sustainability but also adds a raw, gritty texture that symbolises the underlying struggles. The damage and harsh words adorning the costume are deliberate, representing the societal pressures and harsh criticisms that even the most seemingly perfect women, such as Victoria’s Secret Angels, endure.

Inspiration
“WE mainly got our inspiration from a specific model Kate Moss. She received a lot of backlash from media for her looks, saying she didn’t have the proper look to be a Victoria's Secret model and it drove her to pick up bad habits. It shows that no matter how perfect you think someone is or how much you envy someone, they can go through the same hard times, listening to the words of other people. In this day and age a lot of young girls face these problems. We aim to shed light on the often unseen battles faced by women, highlighting the resilience and strength required to rise above these challenges.
“We used approximately 30 Mayo News newspapers which ended up being around 600 sheets of newspaper altogether. We cut every sheet up into small triangles and paper machéd them onto an old bedsheet. This process took us two and a half weeks. We then upcycled an old corset and glued on newspaper and negative words to emphasise how horrible the media can be - but we also included positive words to show how the media can manipulate you into thinking.
“For our wings we used old crisp boxes from Cunnigham's Costcutter in Belcarra and cut out the shape. We then cut out old magazines and stuck them on to the wings with multiple pictures of models along with second hand purchased feathers. The costume resembles the Victoria’s Secret outfits. We used wire and can tabs to create a halo. Altogether the entire costume took us three months to put together.”