Longford success at Relove Fashion awards

A group of Ardscoil Phádraig Granard students were among the winners at the Relove Fashion awards on March 23 at the Rediscovery Centre.

Erin Flynn, Rachel Higgins, Siobhan McDonagh and Lauren Murtagh were the winners of the ‘Best Casual’ entry as students from around the Eastern, Midlands and Dublin region created outfits using discarded textiles and reimagining them into wearable clothing.

The award-winning Relove Fashion Competition encourages students to take a deeper look at how their clothing is made. This year’s competition featured twenty two finalists who made wearable outfits from materials such as curtains, bed sheets, bike tubes, discarded packaging and accessories made from coconut shells.

The overall winner was announced as Beth Brady from St Joseph's Mercy Secondary School in Co Meath. Beth created her outfit from old seat belts, an old bomber jacket, torn lining from the family linen basket, an old cot sheet, donated fabric and zip once destined to be used for a bridesmaid’s dress, a pair of her dad’s old jeans and scrap fabric. The top was also dyed using onion skins and her accessories were made from the shell of an eaten coconut.

The Relove Fashion Competition judges were Arran Murphy Rediscover Fashion Programme Manager at the Rediscovery Centre, Lorraine Keane broadcaster and founder of Fashion Relief, Aisling Duffy Sustainable Fashion Designer and Dr. Joanne Rourke Environmental Scientist from the Eastern-Midlands Region Waste Management Plan Office.

Eleven local authorities came together, with the Rediscovery Centre, to create the Relove Fashion competition. The competition is funded by the eleven participating local authorities Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Kildare, Longford, Louth, Meath, South Dublin, Westmeath, Offaly and Wicklow.