Rose ELVERIA
Christlin Abraham
Akshaya Balireddi
Our Lady's Bower Secondary School
Westmeath County Council
The items used to create this outfit included an old saree donated by one of their mums and old jeans donated by friends and family. The group wanted to create a cross cultural outfit and were inspired by the reuse possibilities in the items they gathered.
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Every element of this dress was very carefully constructed.
The asymmetrical skirt was cut on the bias. The bottom hem is finished with fishing wire inserted into the rolled hem, this complicated technique was used to create a curled lettuce effect at the bottom of the skirt.
The top was created with an asymmetrical off the shoulder neckline and has a corseted laced closing at the back, with loops created for the lacing.
The lining for the top and the skirt were made from a donated blouse, echoing the Indian tradition of gifting blouse fabric when visiting someone's house.
The denim frill attached to the neckline of the dress was made from fabric harvested from donated jeans. This denim design feature is continued in the denim flowers which the group hand made and used to embellish the skirt and the strap of the dress.
The pearl beads used in the centre of each flower and along the neckline were harvested from a broken necklace.
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The group researched cotton production, highlighting the high water usage and the environmental impacts of the pesticides and fertilisers used in cotton cultivation.
