November 2008 - Student Recycled Fashion Challenge
Sheffield students beat off the credit crunch in dazzling £20 recycled fashion!
Sheffield school and college students went into a very well-coiffeured head to head recently, when they competed for the recycled fashion challenge prize at the Working Woman Expo. Competition organiser Faye Smith explained, “I wanted to help Christina, Working Woman’s founder and the inspiration behind the expo, raise money for Cavendish cancer care. They have been of enormous value to three close friends of mine, and I know they make good use of every penny they get to support people when they need it most.”
Faye has just launched her own business, Keep your Fork training and marketing, where she is in and out of schools all the time anyway, running her successful trademark range of personal skill and enterprise development seminars.
“It occurred to me that on the back of the fabulous fashion show Christina had pulled together, it would be a great idea for the students I train in business, self confidence and personal presentation skills to create credit crunch-beating outfits to showcase the bargains these places have for the savvy shopper. We set them the challenge of scouring the local cancer charity shops to see what bargains they could come up with for less than twenty pounds. They could cannibalise and accessorise the outfits to their heart’s content, and some of the creations they came up with were simply stunning.”
Judges were Katherine Taylor, dynamic owner of Seen boutique in Doncaster, freshly transformed as a result of Katherine’s appearance on Mary Queen of Shops, and Janet Simpson of city centre solicitors, Simpson, Sissons and Brooke- big supporters of Working Woman’s Entrepreneurs Ladder and prize sponsor.
The competition was intense, with outfits ranging from Silverdale’s Rod Stewart tartan meets Jane Fonda’s Barbarella look, to All Saints’ circus-inspired sequinned ringmaster ensemble. The winner, however, was Sheffield College with their stunning Frank Usher original- an £11.99 bargain which became a floaty twenties masterpiece in their hands.
Katherine said, “the competition was so strong, it was really difficult for us judges to chose- but in the end, though we highly commended All Saints’ flamboyant circus look and the High School’s flirtatious party outfit complete with starched pink blouse, it just had to be the college. Those girls had created a mood board and showed me how they had completely de-constructed and rebuilt the frock- truly a work of art and in the spirit of the challenge. Working Woman had better invite me back to judge next year because it was such a fantastic evening. The buzz from nearly 300 people in the audience and the girls’ own supporters was fantastic. My congratulations to them all.”
The models, outfits and fashion show were all planned and pulled together by 17 year-old King Ecgberts’ student Abigayil Madden, entrepreneurial daughter of the event’s instigator. Abigayil was supported by Joanna Kondrak, an intern on the Form training programme at St Thomas’ church Philadelphia and her friends, plus a team from Birkdale sixth form who helped her with publicising and hosting the event all day. “It has been a nightmare and a triumph all rolled into one” exclaims Abigayil.” “Pulling all the girls together, wearing the right outfits in the right sizes, linking with Debenhams personal shopper Sophie to showcase her service and beautiful clothes, our two top designers…it’s unbelievable. We had outfits stuck on the motorway, disappearing dresses, disappearing designers, disappearing models…a whole team missing from the challenge line-up who had got lost elsewhere in the hotel … You name it, but in the end it all came together and hopefully the audience knew it was all for a good cause. It nearly gave me a nervous breakdown though!”
“All the participants learned so much from the experience”, Faye enthuses. “Skills employers need like negotiation, budgeting, problem solving, team building, project management and creativity in spades! As a result of taking this project into schools, Jane Fardon and I have been asked to support and mentor teams to fundraise with fashion shows, clothes swaps, pamper evening and Jane’s trademark colour and style evenings. We’re going to be busy! For the students to have a professional makeover from the Jane Fardon Cosmetics team and their hair styled by Taylor Taylor award- winning hairdressers was a dream come true for some of them. Such a confidence boost. No wonder they had the courage to display their creations to an audience of nearly 300 and be quizzed by judge Katherine. Two girls said it was the best day of their lives. They have been swapping photos on Facebook and we hear their schools are buzzing with it. Was it worth all the hard work and hassle? Yes! Will we be doing it again next year even bigger and better, you bet!”
Schools and colleges can book Faye’s workshops by emailing faye@keepyourfork.co.uk
Jane Fardon cosmetics can be contacted on 0114 2998603 or www.janefardon.com
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