Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I use a fertile imagination to turn junk into farming fashion
How tragedy inspired award-winning teen
A TEENAGER is taking sustainable fashion to the next level with designs she creates from things most people would class as rubbish.
Rachel Irwin, 17, divides her time between working on the family farm and studying fashion at Belfast Met College.
She won one of five top prizes in the Junk Kouture competition in 2018 as well as a trip to France and has a career in fashion design in her sights.
The competition encourages young designers to create from rubbish or junk.
Rachel is now set to model four of her pieces at a Gothica Glam fashion show in the Guildhall in Derry on Wednesday.
She said the pain of losing her brother John suddenly two years ago inspired her. Rachel said: “He just collapsed in school. I had just passed him in the corridor when it happened – it was a huge shock.
“One of the first dresses I designed was called the Wind Beneath My Wings and it has turkey feathers sewed into it. If I come across a feather on the farm, it reminds me of John. Another dress I created took up loads of bits of what other people would probably throw out. I used old fertiliser bags for a piece called Farmyard Fashion.
“One dress I made is particularly meaningful to me because I made it from trampoline mat material because John used to love going on it and some Christmas wreaths left from his grave.”
Rachel added for her, art and creativity are her therapy. She said: “I can just lose hours making and designing stuff so it definitely helps take my mind off things and lets me express myself.”
Her mum Diane said she loves to see how Rachel incorporates rubbish into her designs.
She added: “I never know what she will bring in from the farm but it always amazes me how she can be so creative and inventive.
“She has started bringing in the fluffy part of cows’ tails.
“I don’t enjoy washing the dung off them but I love seeing how her designs turn out.
“She has always been so creative and there is all the talk about sustainable fashion and reusing and recycling now but she has always been doing it.”
Rachel said: “People like Greta Thunberg are making people way more conscious of the environment and how many clothes they buy.
“So it’s good to think I’m playing my own role in that and show what you can make from bits and bobs people usually throw away.”