Trash to Treasure!

Year 9 students turns Rubbish into Runway Magic!

The Rubbish Costumes Competition has been running since 2019 and is judged by the BA (Hons) Costume Construction team at University Centre South Essex. This year’s competition ran as part of a widening participation project with year 9 students at Belfair's Academy, there were 19 entries in total.

The competition emphasizes sustainability via the 3 R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. Crafting, sewing and repurposing is fun, and upcycling can provide many benefits, economically, creatively and environmentally helping to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill.

Using their creativity and innovation, students at Belfair’s Academy were tasked with giving unwanted or old items and materials a new lease of life by designing and making a ‘Rubbish Costume’ or prop with a specific character in mind.

Lou Cox, UAL Team leader, said : “Judging the competition was hard due to the quality of the work produced by Mrs Sonya O'Neill's year 9 textile students. All three winners demonstrated innovation, problem solving and creativity, with the over-all winner, Hannah Robin-Moore making a garment out of unwanted ties.

The winners are as follows:
Overall Winner - Hannah Robin-Moore (age 14)
Runner Up - Annabell Colbourn-Humphries (age 13)
Special Commendation - Tashiya Aktar (age 14)

University Centre South Essex also gave prizes to the winners and school, including, a half-scale mannequin for the textiles department, an £80 Amazon Voucher for the over-all winner, a £50 amazon voucher for the runner up, and a £20 voucher for the special commendation award.

Congratulations to everyone one involved, the BA (Hons) Costume Construction look forward to seeing more innovation and recycling next year.