Junk Kouture - The Final 2017

After weeks of anticipation, Thursday the 27th of April finally came. The Junk Kouture Grand Final. Jumping on board the 8:50 train, we were nervous and discussed the schedule that had been emailed to us. The 3 Arena was buzzing with excitement from the moment we arrived. In our dressing room, Ms.Lennon, Ms.Lynch, Nicole, Ayman, Niamh, Roisin and I were immediately hard at work getting the models ready. We were lucky enough to be put in a dressing room with lights and mirrors running along each wall. Our teams, Luster and Taped, ft to share dressing room along with a team from another school. This was the lap of luxury compared to the makeshift tables some teams got in the huge space that served as a communal dressing room for the day.

Once the models’s costumes, hair and makeup were ready, the judges came around. They were impressed with our mood boards and our costumes. As it got later a large pizza was sent to each team (one of the highlights of our day!) Following this, everyone except for the models were asked to leave the dressing rooms. From this point forward it was a waiting game. We were excited and nervous for our models and wondered what they were doing as we were at “fun in the foyer.” Here we were given face paint, wrist bands and power banks. We left with more stuff than when we arrived! There was an “art-off,” a Virtual Reality Studio,  a variety of talks, meet and greets with Seo Linn, a 360 degree camera studio as well as other games which gave you the chance to win amazing prizes. Who wouldn’t join in when a Penney's voucher was up for grabs?

At last it was finally time for the show. The arena was trembling with anticipation and everyone was in high spirits. We were introduced to our Judges (which included Una Healy and Louis Walsh) and our hosts, then stunned by an extremely talented group of dancers. Seo Linn performed for us as well as two contestants from ‘dancing with the stars.’

From the beginning of the fashion show, it was immediately evident with each team that a lot of work went into not only the dresses but the hair and makeup and the performances. Luster was our first dress to come on stage, followed soon after by Taped. Ayman and Nicole’s performances were flawless- no one could have guessed how nervous they were backstage before coming on. A mass of supporters from our school arrived to cheer our models on waving the torches on their phones to the music. Unfortunately neither of the loreto teams placed in the Grand Final, but the hard work we put in was (to us) definitely something to be proud of.