Coláiste Bríde Transition Year Junk Kouture Fashion Show 2016

29/1/2016

We have been quiet for the last few weeks on our blog but this has not been the case in reality!!! We have been run off our feet throughout Christmas and January! We were frantic finishing off our dresses for the fashion show. It was a bit of a panic to complete our Junk Kouture dressses AND put a routine together for our performance at the fashion show.

As you may know, there are three team members in each group, one of these members must model the dress, and simply walking up and down the catwalk is just not enough for Ms Duggan, Ms Whelan and Ms McEvoy!!! We practiced late into the night leading up to the show. We had just about finished our designs by Monday night and some still working hard Tuesday night and Wednesday morning!!! However, by Tuesday we had to set up the hall. We were very fortunate this year that Mr. Sheridan gave us permission to use the hall a day early for a dress rehearsal.

We gathered first thing Tuesday morning in the sports hall and helped Pat get the carpets out, the catwalk down and the chairs in place. It took a good bit of effort and teamwork as us TYs are not used to heavy lifting!! Thankfully it all went to plan and after break we got our opportunity to do a quick rehearsal.

It was nerve wracking at first. The poor models had to get up and strut their stuff in front of all the rest of us TYs. It was even harder for Moya Neary as she was the first of us out after the exhibition from last year's winners Kelsey Reid and Courtney Lacey!! The two girls and their designers (Chloe, Danielle, and the two Éimears!!) were calm and collected and really made us up our game!! However Moya came out and proved we were well able for this show!

Eventually, Wednesday morning came and we were up at the crack of dawn getting hair, make-up and tans done! We were nervous but after the official dress rehearsal Wednesday morning, we were ready to get the show on the road!!!
It was so exciting - the lights, the music, the crowd. Ms McConville kept us on our toes backstage and gave a few pep talks too when neccessary!! She also kept an eye on the curtains which were a big deal according to Ms Duggan and Ms Whelan!!! Did you know that there is a right way and a wrong way to open a curtain?? And God forbid you turn your back on the audience!!!! But thankfuly, everything went to plan. Last year's TYs were the first down to the sports hall and took the FROW! They were a great audience and cheered us on brilliantly. They were amazing! We got a great reception from the crowd and they put us at our ease.

After the show, we took a few group photos and had a quick team talk! Ms Duggan, Ms McEvoy, Ms Whelan and Ms McConvile congratulated us, praised us and gave us the thumbs up! That meant it went well! Phew! We were delighted with ourselves. We did a quick tidy up before the next show, put out more chairs and then went for our dinners before round 2!

The evening show was just as great. We had a full house with a huge number of people coming in at the last minute! There were photos, tears and hugs after the show that night. Our families were delighted for us. They were probably more delighted the whole event was over!! We have been tough to live with these last few weeks! And hopefully our families will get their houses back to normal again - free from glue, hammers, nails, paint and all sorts of recyclable materials!

We slept great that night, however, round 3 started the next morning with the official photoshoot of our dresses. Another long day!! By 3.20, after all the photos, make-up and hair spray, we were finally finished! It was done!! A huge sign of relief! And then, when Ms Whelan gave us the news of a day off.. well you can imagine the cheers of excitement!

What a busy few weeks!
Check us out in the local papers over the next few weeks!