Homecoming celebrates local Junk Kouture winners
There was an electric atmosphere in Moate Community School last week when the team behind Junk Kouture World Designer of the Year winner #TagMe modelled by Tubber's Eva Donlon was celebrated with a guard of honour and homecoming celebration. The dress was inspired by the famed designer Missoni and made by Eva, Méabh O'Shea and Evie Nugent from plastic colour testers from Delta Q, a plastics manufacturer in Athlone.
The local design was crowned Junk Kouture World Designer of the Year in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday, February 22, fighting off stiff competition from the UK, France, Italy, the USA and the UAE.
The 900-strong student body lined the entrance pathway into the school for a guard of honour on Tuesday, February 27 to celebrate their fellow students’ great achievement before Eva, wearing the fantastic design made her grand entrance walking past the students on a glamorous red carpet.
Students, staff and visitors to the school were then invited into the school gymnasium for the homecoming event and Principal of Moate CS Tom Lowry gave an opening address, saying that it was a “very special occasion”.
Mr Lowry stated: “I have always believed that Moate Community School is in a class of its own but now it’s official, we are world class. Our school has had a long and positive history with Junk Kouture for many years and we have enjoyed significant success with many different designs over the last two decades.
“But last week, in Monaco, we finally reached the summit, and to the ecstasy of all our supporters and families present in Monaco and all of us here at home, we were crowned the World champions with #TagMe chosen as the overall World Designer of the Year.”
Mr Lowry also highlighted the tremendous work carried out by Art teacher Ms Pamela Keogh in contributing to the girls' success.
“Her skills and passion for all things Junk Kouture is simply limitless. All of us here know that without her ideas, guidance and trojan work that this achievement would not be possible.”
Eva, Evie and Méabh all said a few words of gratitude. Méabh thanked last year's TY class for all of their help and support throughout their Junk Kouture experience and Tubber native Eva thanked Ms Keogh for her assistance along with the school for holding the homecoming event.
Evie said that she was “so happy” and “so grateful” for the support of the school and that the group wouldn't be where they are without the support of the school and their families.
Ms Keogh said that Eva, Méabh and Evie were “absolutely amazing” and a joy to work with and that they were “very entrepreneurial” in contacting local companies for sponsorship.
She also highlighted their hard-work in relation to promoting the dress on social media. Their TikTok account @junkkouturetags has over 96k likes and one of their videos received over 418,000 views.
Model Eva Donlon performed in the dress made from 2,500 plastic colour samples in front of the entire school as the haunting sound of the song 'Who by Fire' by PJ Harvey and Tim Phillips from the 'Bad Sisters' soundtrack filled the room.