Orange Electrique wins Junk Kouture final.

Three Westmeath students, going under the name Orange Electrique, have won the WEEE award at the 2013 Junk Kouture final.

Thomas Pettit from Streamstown, Karen McManus from Castledaly and Eimear Young from Tubber, Moate – students at Moate Community School – won the prize for the best incorporation of WEEE, or electrical waste elements in their design, competing against 2,500 entrants from all over the country.

Junk Kouture is a national competition for second level students, which challenges them to create high-end wearable fashion from everyday waste, and Orange Electrique is a colourful creation using electrical wires, electrical tape and cardboard.

Pamela Keogh, an art teacher at Moate Community School, said: “The students began working on this costume in late September, sourcing the waste materials from a friend. After much trial and error they discovered the best way to use the materials and decided on the final design.

"They worked on the costume during their art classes each week and put in many extra hours at home in order to get the costume completed in time.”

Thomas, Karen and Eimear said winning was a great honour, adding “the WEEE award was fantastic – we were delighted to come away from the competition with this award, it really made all the months of work worthwhile.”