Bronx students from the Fordham High School for the Arts will be representing the U.S. at an international fashion show in London where all the designs are made from what would otherwise be garbage.
Junk Kouture is an international program that challenges students ages 13-18 to create wearable couture from recycled materials, highlighting creativity and sustainability. Participants can enter in the free competition individually or in groups of up to three, which can be through a class, club or after–school program.
The initiative seeks to change the way young people view waste, encouraging them to rethink how everyday objects that would otherwise be thrown away can have a new use.
Ten teams were selected out of 30 at a competition in New York City to represent the U.S. in person at the second-ever Junk Kouture world final in October at the OVO Arena in Wembley, London. At the final, students will model and perform in their upcycled designs for celebrity judges and industry experts.
Three students at the Fordham High School for the Arts worked together to create a dress and head piece for the NYC competition, which is called Magical Night. The elaborate look was made with fake flowers, fabric, magazine paper, buttons, candy wrappers, a trash bag and plastic.
The Bronx students’ teacher Lisa Mota said this was the first year the school signed up for the contest.
“We had no idea that the students were going to take their designs to the level they did,” Mota told the Bronx Times. “This group worked diligently, made revisions and thought outside of the box. They earned this moment and we are so proud of them for representing Fordham High School for the Arts. This was an amazing opportunity to expose our youth to sustainability and allow them to become empowered as agents of change in the world.”
Students’ Junk Kouture styles featured all sorts of materials, ranging from soda boxes, pine cones, bottle caps and coffee beans, to water bottles, bedsheets, furniture samples, VHS tape, CDs, lollipop wrappers, plastic containers and a sail from a sailboat.
The competition was founded by tech entrepreneur Troy Armour in 2010 as a small fashion contest for local schools in Northwest Ireland. That first year, 200 students showed up to compete.
Since then, more than 15,000 Junk Kouture designs have come to life from 100,000 participants, 60 arena shows have been sold out and 40,000 kg of waste has been repurposed.
The contest went international in 2021, launching in New York City, London, Abu Dhabi, Milan and Paris. The 10 winning teams from each city’s competition go on to face each other, along with a Dublin team, at the world final.
Nine other teams from the U.S. will join the Bronx students at the world championship, including kids from Manhattan, Long Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Georgia and Rhode Island.
The three Bronx students — Ashley Ortega, Elizabeth Guzman and Najla Channa — were pleasantly surprised they made it to the world championship.
“To be honest we didn’t know we were gonna make it this far,” Guzman said. “It was so much fun to work on the project and I’m glad our hard work has brought us this far. I’m proud of how the dress came out in the end.”
The Belmont public school has been placed in the national spotlight before. Students from the school were featured in a new HBO documentary that launched last year called “My So-Called High School Rank,” which follows three high school drama departments performing a musical.
And it’s not the first time high school students from the Bronx were featured in Junk Kouture either.
Bronx International High School students Naomi Carrion and Alissa Esetevez were chosen to represent the U.S. in the inaugural Junk Kouture world competition in Abu Dhabi with a dress made out of masks, thread and glue. The students were unable to make the trip, however, but they competed virtually with a video.
Flights and accommodation for the students and teacher to go to this year’s London competition will be covered by Junk Kouture, which is sponsored by various corporate partners.
“I’m surprised that a project we worked on was able to get the attention of a judge,” said Ortega, one of the students. “I’m so happy that our hard work paid off! We are so happy to get this opportunity!”
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
