Griffith College Awards Scholarship at Junk Kouture 2019

Jane Leavey, Programme Director for Fashion Design, at Junk Kouture

We were delighted to see Griffith’s very own Jane Leavey, Programme Director for Fashion Design, sit on the judging panel for the Eighth Annual Bank of Ireland Junk Kouture Grand Final. It was Jane’s third year as a judge at the event, where she sat alongside celebrity judges Louis Walsh and radio presenter Doireann Garrihy.

Junk Kouture is a national competition for second level students which encourages them to create striking, couture designs from everyday discarded materials. The event took place on Thursday 2nd May at a sold-out 3Arena and was attended by over 6,000 students from all over the country.

Griffith College was delighted to present Michelle Corcoran from Moate Community School with a scholarship award onto the BA (Hons) in Fashion Design for her design named ‘Attire,’ made entirely from bicycle and car tubing. The design also scooped the overall Western Regional Award and was centred around the theme of the journey of life and its many bumps in the road.

Jane said of the night, “Every year I am so impressed by the standard of the entries and the commitment to the competition from these young designers. When it came to this year’s scholarship winner, Michelle’s design Attire really stood out. It had a real fashion edge and the standard of craftsmanship and quality of the intricate workmanship made it a winning design. We are thrilled to give Michelle the opportunity to study at Griffith.”

Other entries included the aptly named ‘I’d like to make Toast’ made entirely from slices of toast burnt to varying degrees to create a contrasting colour scheme, a gown made entirely of tampons named ‘Lunar Lady’, and a design called ‘All Scrubbed Up’, created using surgical cleaning brushes.

The overall winner of the competition was Phobalscoil Chorca student Maxim O’Sullivan, from Dingle. He fought off stiff competition and was crowned the overall winner for his design, ‘Cinematic’, made entirely from videotape, film reels and DVDs from his family-owned cinema.

Lean more about design at Griffith College

Jane Leavey, Programme Director for Fashion Design, at Junk Kouture