Young Wexford trio earn spot on Junk Kouture's world stage ‘It's the most amazing feeling ever!'
Ellen Chapman, Anna Murphy and Kayla Butler creatively designed and hand-crafted their Gear Glamour dress, which was made solely from the parts of two bikes and a bike cover. Not leaving any part unaccounted for, the ambitious designers formed their skirt from bike tyres, the wires were included in the underskirt and the train that trailed the dress was crafted by weaving together the recycled bike cover. The inner rubber tubing of the tyres were plaited and stitched together to form the corset, and a headpiece was created by using the remainder of the tyres as well as spokes, chains and brake cable. The outfit was completed by removing the heels of a second-hand pair of heeled sandals, which were then cleverly replaced by old gear cogs stacked upon each other.
'When we formed our group and began our project, we realised that we all have a different set of skills and focusing on our strengths as a team is what helped us complete our design,' explained Kayla.
Kayla also outlined that the inspiration from the design came from their rural community, as their school is located in south county Wexford, and students are heavily reliant on cars and busses to get to school. Inspiring others to reduce their carbon footprint where possible is what led the girls to focus their project around cycling and bikes.
When the team reached the national finals, Ellen, who modelled the design for Gear Glamour, described the announcement of the result while she was on stage as 'the most amazing feeling ever'.
'The adrenaline was rushing through me and it's all a bit of a blur because it happened so quickly, but it was really amazing to be up there on stage in front of the crowd,' she added. In addition to being proud of their work and making it to the world stage, Ellen described Junk Kouture as a great initiative to be involved with as 'it has opened so many doors already.'
Gear Glamour is one of the top 10 teams in the country that has progressed to the international stage, flying the flag high for Ramsgrange in the World finals which see groups from Abu Dhabi, London, Milan, New York and Paris all compete to be crowned the coveted overall Junk Kouture champion.
Anna explained that the Gear Glamour girls are hoping the upcoming announcement for the world event, which is due to be held in 2026, will take them overseas. 'This year's world competition was held in Dublin, and if they decide to host it in a country abroad next year, our accommodation and our flights will be included, which is nice, but that the question we're being asked from all angles – 'where are worlds on?' and we're really looking forward to finding out and taking a trip together, with our designated Educator, Sharon McGee,' said Anna.
As the trio will be moving from TY to fifth year in September, Kayla's advice to anyone who may be apprehensive about the programme and getting involved in the programme is to 'honestly, dive in."
"Take advantage of every single opportunity. There's so much to do in TY, and if you don't take advantage of those opportunities, then you get nothing out of it. Junk Kouture is just one of the many, many things that we have done and TY has been an amazing experience, it's been unbelievable and I'd recommend it to everybody,' she concluded.
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Tickets are priced at €30 and up to two children (under 16) go free with every ticket purchased. Visit for further information.
