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Jenna Sudol | Special to NorthJersey.com
Three North Jersey precocious schoolhouse students who turned "medical junk" into manner couture for a worldwide contention person made it to the finals and volition caput to Abu Dhabi.
CJ King, Jazzlynn Vargas and Josselyn Garcia are the North Bergen High School students who gave caller beingness to materials erstwhile utilized to prevention lives.
The 3 person qualified for the Junk Kouture World Final by making a gown retired of recycled excavation insulation foam and bluish wrap, a aesculapian worldly that contributes to 19% of aesculapian waste.
Junk Kouture is the world’s largest sustainable younker manner competition. The fashions are made from 100% recycled materials. The World Final volition beryllium held successful Abu Dhabi connected Jan. 11, 2023.
The students worked with creation teacher Steven Defendini and manner and interior plan teacher Marlene Sapoff.
“We have, I consciousness like, a precise lengthy past of doing things retired of recycled materials,” Defendini said of wherefore helium encouraged his students to participate the competition. “So we really received an email from Junk Kouture asking if we wanted to participate. I said that sounds interesting.”
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Defendini recruited Sapoff for assistance, and they worked unneurotic to assemble a squad for the competition. Sapoff said the portion is simply a tribute to wellness attraction workers and the work they provided during the tallness of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They were our angels,” Sapoff said. “They did truthful overmuch and enactment themselves connected the line.”
The plan is called “The Nightingale” aft nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale. Vargas said the portion has value for her, the girl of a nurse.
“For me, I person ever looked up to my mom,” Vargas said. “I aspired to beryllium idiosyncratic arsenic benignant arsenic nurses and doctors are."
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The portion took astir six months to complete, and the students often stayed aft schoolhouse to enactment connected it.
“Even aft school, we would enactment for similar 3 hours and conscionable support working,” Vargas said.
King said manner is simply a calling for them.
“I’ve ever wanted to bash thing successful the manner manufacture and the manner world,” King said. “It’s conscionable been a calling, and it has ever spoken to me. It comes people and casual to me.”
King spoke astir the value of sustainable manner successful today’s world.
“There are truthful galore ways that you tin repurpose cloth unsocial [and] remake your apparel and outfits,” King said. “It conscionable saves wealth and it saves truthful overmuch garbage that builds up with accelerated fashion.”
Vargas is caller to the manner satellite but said she was capable to usage her skills for a important portion of the design.
“I ne'er truly had immoderate transportation to fashion,” Vargas said. ”I [like] much prop-making [and] building, truthful the wings were a bully accidental for maine to leap connected apical of this project.”
In Abu Dhabi, the students volition vie against 9 different teams from the United States and 50 teams from the U.K., Italy, France, Ireland and the U.A.E.
“I consciousness great,” King said. “I can’t hold to spot the contention and I can’t hold to win, due to the fact that that’s what we’re going for.”
One of the Junk Kouture judges, Emma McKee (also known arsenic Stitch Gawd), highlighted what she looks for successful a winning design.
“I privation to spot originative usage of materials and wide improvement of a concept,” McKee said. “I besides privation to spot the designer's unsocial position radiance done successful the piece.”
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