Carlow St Leo’s TY students ‘shellsational’ design makes the Cannes red carpet
Miss Ireland Caoimhe Kenny at Cannes Film Festival wearing a Junk Kouture outfit called 'Shellsational' which was designed by Daria Velychko and Nia Pavliashvili of St Leo's College, Carlow Photo: Brian McEvoy
A COSTUME designed by two transition-year students from St Leo’s College made an appearance on the red carpet at Cannes International Film Festival last week.
Nia Pavliashvilli and Daria Velychko’s design, which is made from used pistachio shells and orange peels, was modelled on the red carpet at Cannes by Miss Ireland Caoimhe Kenny.
The design previously featured at the Junk Kouture regional finals in the Helix earlier this month, where it received widespread praise for its creativity and powerful social message, with Ms Kenny also showcasing two other creations from the regional final in Cannes.
Work on the design began in September, with Daria saying how inspiration for the idea came from a Disney film.
“We came up with the idea from the movie , where she designed a dress out of cocoons. We wanted to create something similar using recycled materials.”
Participants in Junk Kouture are required to select one or more global issues to explore through their design in order to reflect the competition’s sustainable development goals, with Nia and Daria choosing ‘Zero Hunger’.
“The idea was to represent how inequality can sometimes be hidden by wealth and large corporations. There are many countries and communities struggling for food, money and resources, while bigger companies often benefit from cheap labour and low wages,” explained Nia.
“Pistachio shells are usually thrown away and seen as useless, but we turned them into something luxurious. The gold colour represents wealth and luxury masking the poverty that still exists in many parts of the world,” she added.
An incredible amount of work went into the design of the costume, with Daria having the painstaking task of drilling three small holes in each pistachio shell before they were spray-painted gold.
The girls received support from two of the school’s art teachers, Lauren Connors and Tara Gooch.
Junk Kouture is an international competition that calls on students to design and create high-fashion outfits using only recycled and repurposed materials. Thousands of students submit entries each year from across the world.
Another St Leo’s student, Ava Malone, had her Eco Aviator design selected to represent Ireland at the Junk Kouture world finals.
