World final spot for young Junk Kouture designer

Newport’s Joseph Monaghan recently secured his spot at the Junk Kouture World Finals with his design ‘Ransacked’.

By Anna Powell

“It was just such a special moment,” reflected 16-year-old Joseph on his experience of securing his sport in the Junk Kouture World Finals.

Junk Kouture Competition

“The Junk Kouture competition is making fashion out of unconventional materials that you would find around that would be considered junk or rubbish,” explained the Newport College student.

“It is something that I looked forward to joining from a very young age because I was taken to competitions. My dad was a secondary school teacher and his school used to do it, and I used to go along to the competition,” he reflected. “The minute I went into Transition Year, I decided to apply.”

Budding Young Fashion Designer

“I have Cerebral Palsy. Having a physical disability, I’ve always experimented with fashion because in my mind, people are going to judge me anyway for my physical attributes, so why don’t I give them something to look at,” expressed the young fashion designer.

“I see beauty where few people see beauty. I always try and see beauty in the bad things and in the rubbish basically, and that’s why I think Junk Kouture is such a special competition, because its not like you are buying new materials. You are looking where people seldom look, and you have to look a bit harder, but then you can see the beauty in what people throw away,” he continued, sharing his perspective on the beauty of unconventional things that can inspire a fashion designer.

In the Junk Kouture competition, Joseph had been named as a ‘future fashion’ designer by the judges.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” he said, "I was just honoured to be in the competition."

Dedication to new skills

Joseph had to learn new skills to design his outfit ‘Ransacked’.

“I learned as I went along. I learnt to handsew from my mother, that was very special that I got to utilise those skills,” he continued. “I did my work experience in Limerick School of Art and Design and that’s where I got to try out an industrial sewing machine for the first time.

“My neighbour Grainne Glenn graciously leant me her sewing machine because a normal sewing machine would not be able to take the coffee sacks for the outfit, we needed an industrial one,” he added.

“I gave up a lot of my year to do it. It was intense.

“The whole process was intense, but I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to create, and learning the skills was the harder bit of the project,” he explained.

“It was a great opportunity to have that freedom in TY,” he expressed about the experience.

‘Ransacked’

Joseph worked tirelessly on his design, which was innovatively made out of coffee sacks, chicken wire and recycled fabrics.

“It took me the guts of five months,” expressed Joseph, going on to explain how he dedicated the majority of his time in transition year to the project.

“It was a lot on me because I decided to do it on my own,” he stated, but pointed out that he was appreciative of the challenge as he wished to go forward and pursue a career as a fashion designer.

Along with his joy of securing his spot in the Junk Kouture World Finals, Joseph was also extremely grateful for the opportunity to take part and for the friends he made through the competition.

“I always just felt it was just special to be around these people with such an interest in fashion. I made lifelong friends during this process,” he commented.

According to Joseph, the standard of work produced by fellow students was very impressive this year.

“The standard was incredibly high. I was very lucky to call a lot of them my friends. I did a lot of social media work, I really enjoyed the social media campaign, and my friends did as well. So, I got to see their journey designing their outfits all the way up, so it was very special to see them in real life then,” he expressed.