A stunning dress, created from junk by students from Loreto Secondary School, Fermoy and entitled ‘White Swan’, was one of over 80 outfits from secondary schools across the South that was showcased at the regional finals for the Junk Kouture Recycled Fashion Competition 2013 last week in UCH, University of Limerick.

After much deliberation by the judges, the White Swan creation was on of 20 finalists that were hand-picked to go on to showcase their designs at the Junk Kouture grand finale in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin on the 19th of April.

Elizabeth O’Donnell, co-founder of Junk Kouture said the standard this year was exceptionally high which made the judges decisions extremely difficult.

Once on the catwalk at the grand finale, the Junk Kouture’s expert judges will be tasked with the decision of finding the budding designers who will walk away with over €20,000 worth of prizes.

The dress, made from recycled Junior Cert exam papers, was modelled by Ilona Platek and other students involved in making the dress included Rasa Bartuseviciute and Marie-Claire Caplice.