Louisburgh students to represent Mayo in Junk Kouture World Final in March

Three students from Sancta Maria College in Mayo will compete in the Junk Kouture World Final at The Helix in March.

In October, Charlotte Monaghan, Ciara McDonagh and Jade O'Mailey's creative look titled 'La Mer Bougie' was one of the ten chosen pieces to advance to the international leg of the competition at the city final in the RDS. 

The Louisburgh students and their teacher Mr Tom O'Flynn will now go head-to-head with finalists from around the world in March. There will be a total of 60 looks in the final, with contestants from Abu Dhabi, London, New York, Milan and Paris taking part.

In keeping with Junk Kouture's central objective of sustainability, the girls' striking design is made of recycled blue tealight cases and silver wicks from inside them. The girls designed a corset out of wicks and broken parts of the cases that were unusable for the skirt. The structure of the skirt consists of pipes and rope, with more tealights attached.

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To complete the look, the showstopping hat was cast onto model Ciara McDonagh’s head. The girls stuck wicks onto the headpiece and the visor was made of more broken tealight cases.

Dublin is set to host the World Final as Junk Kouture celebrates its 15th anniversary in Ireland this year. The Junk Kouture Festival of Creativity and Circularity will be in Dublin from 3-4 March, 2025, and the grand final will take place at the Helix on the final day of the festival.

The live event will showcase the incredible talent of students from Ireland and across the globe with stunning couture designs on display that demonstrate creativity, innovation and most importantly, sustainability. 

Tickets for the event will be on sale from Monday, 16 December on The Helix's website. Prices start at €40.