Aoife Mannion and Ruth Gallagher from Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone took Boston by storm last weekend with their Junk Kouture designs Recircuitable and Pine-A-Coladas. Their dresses were two of eight designs chosen to represent Junk Kouture stateside at the iFest festival - a unique and exhilarating celebration festival of Irish culture, heritage, hospitality, and entertainment held in the Seaport World Trade Centre.
The eight students took park in three catwalk shows over the course of the weekend in front of thousands of Irish Americans. Pine-A-Coladas is the current Junk Kouture champion having won the competition in The O2 Dublin in May. This dress is made from all things natural including pinecones, pineapples, rope, and copper wire. It was designed by Ruth and her teammates Jane Wallace and Emma Kinsella.
Recircuitable is a Native American-inspired dress and headpiece made from circuit boards. It was designed by Aoife, Muirenn Lyons, and Niamh Brady.
Other events that took place at iFest included amazing live performances by bands such as The Riptide Movement and Seo Linn and the spectacular Riverdance. There were also genealogy master-classes, a GAA sporting showcase, the story of Ireland told through engaging film and archive exhibits, the ultimate Guinness Experience, Jameson Irish Whiskey tastings, the Irish Tourism Showcase and iFest Food Village, and the lively Celebrity Chefs’ Theatre, delivering mouth-watering creative cuisine!
Bank of Ireland Junk Kouture in association with Repak 2015 will be launched later in the month with the closing date January 31, 2015. Information packs will be sent to all secondary school art departments at the end of September. To request an information pack, please email [email protected]. For more information see www.junkkouture.com
