A TRANSITION Year student group at Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí are through to the finals of the national art competition, ‘Junk Kouture’.

The students designed and created their high fashion outfits out of ‘junk’ with every outfit  unique and one made from 100% recycled materials for the Bank Of Ireland sponsored competition.

One group from the school has made it through to the next stage of the competition. Katie Ní Thiobín Breathnach, Nicole Mesaros and Laura Ni Eidhin, will go to the University Concert Hall, Limerick on March 10, hoping to make the final 20 for the Grand Final at the 3Arena in April, where Louis Walsh and Una Healy are among the judges.

Because they have made it this far in the competition, they now have a 1 in 80 chance of making it to the Cannes Film Festival to showcase the design.

This year’s prizes include €2,500 cash for the school, €500 cash and iPad minis for the winning team, as well as a scholarship with the Limerick School of Art & Design.

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Bank of Ireland is again sponsoring the ‘Glamour Prize’, where two outfits and their models will be chosen to attend a Royal Film Premiere in London later in the year.

The nationwide competition aims to spark students’ imaginations; encouraging them to create unique, original and innovative outfits from recycled materials and junk. Thousands of pieces have been submitted by talented teenagers over the past six years, with some spectacular and awe-inspiring pieces gracing the competition’s regional and national catwalks.

You can vote for the girls entry from a week before the regional final on https://www.facebook.com/BOIstudents

Although the other entrants from the school didn’t make it to the next stage of the competition, the outfits they created were beautiful. Christina Nic Gearailt said, “We started with a bird theme, with feathers. But it evolved into a phoenix rising from the ashes.” For more information on the competition, visit http://www.junkkouture.com/ Scroll down for photos…