My Junk Kouture Diary - Aimee Mulcahy

“One man’s trash is another man’s fashion”

Sacred Heart has been entering teams into the annual Junk Kouture competition since it began in 2010. Students take materials that have come from bins, charity shops and the back of their granny’s closets to create an outfit worthy of high-fashion runways. It’s a great way to express creativity and aims to get students thinking about the ever-present issue of sustainability in a more hands-on way.

As a student taking part in Junk Kouture, I’ve had to develop a lot of skills to help my team’s outfit progress, a lot of which I previously wouldn’t ever have had to use. Between sewing, weaving, sticking and losing an absurd amount of pins, we’ve definitely had our work cut out for us. Though it’s been stressful at times, at this stage our dress is really starting to look more and more how we envisioned, and that totally makes the stress worth it. I’ll be honest, my ability to sew really was not great when we started, but now I like to think I’ve got the hang of it. Though Junk Kouture encourages students to work independently, we still had Ms. O’Connell setting us constant deadlines and getting on our cases if our work wasn’t up to scratch. 

With the deadline for entries fast approaching, we are now entering the final stages of putting our outfit together. This means making accessories, tweaking anything we want done differently and making sure that everything is secure. Though we’ve faced a lot of challenges, I think the experience is something that will stick with us for life. And who knows, maybe it’ll convince one of us to become fashion designers! 

Aimee Mulcahy, Transition Year.