Fashion Show!

The St. Wolstan's 2014 Fashion Extravaganza took place this past Tuesday and Wednesday the 25th and 26th November in the Celbridge Manor Hotel hosted by Miss Leonard. After weeks of preparation and excitement, the two days of the fashion show flew by in a breeze! The show consisted of a mix of students and teachers modelling designs from over 14 high street and local retailers such as Next, Vero Moda, Bennetton, New Look, Born, Catch etc. The show showcased the talents of the students in the school through the glee club, singing groups and various dance performances from ballet, Irish and modern dancers. The show also featured some male models from the local Selesians boy's school modelling the evening/debs wear.

We were lucky enough to witness the talents of the teachers as they performed a rather interesting (to say the least) dance piece.

The show began at 8pm on Tuesday night. With lots of excitement backstage with students rushing to get dressed in order for them not to lose their slot in the show. The opening act of the show were the modern dancers. I wasn't due to go on until after the interval so I had plenty of time to wander around and look at the mini companies who were selling their products in the lobby. I was modelling clothes from Next and a design from a former pupil turned designer Ruth Doyle's collection. It was so much fun getting to play model for the night and having our make-up and hair done by a make up artist brought in by Ruth. My first look was from next. It consisted of a sparkly  silver three quarter length top, a black furry waistcoat and a pair of jeans.

The second design I wore in the show was a favourite of mine. It was a beautiful piece from Ruth Doyle's collection. The collection consists of a series of unique hand-made pieces using hair and various other fabrics.

Here are a few of the other pieces from Ruth's collection modelled by Isabelle Connolly,  Eilis O'Brien and Lauren.

The day after the show, the school halls were buzzing with talk of the first show and the students just couldn't wait to do it again for the second night which went just as well. Overall it was a fun  experience for the students and teachers and hopefully we will get the opportunity to do it again some time.

Vanishing Art

This week, the TYs went on a trip to Carton House, Maynooth where a sculpture exhibition was being held. We left the school for Carton after lunch at 2 o'clock on Wednesday. The exhibition features sculptures which were scattered around Carton premises, on the grass, in the water and hanging from trees.The rest of the pieces were on display in a showroom. The concept of the exhibition was bringing back the art of sculpture which is a "vanishing art" as other forms of art are now emerging.

This was one of my favourite pieces. It was titled "L'Archiere" by David O'Brien and it is a bronze sculpture of a female archer with her bow drawn, ready to fire. Another favourite of mine was an untitled piece of a man and a woman standing on opposite sides of a pillar peeking around the corner at each other but both are too scared to meet the other and so they never meet because they are unaware of the other's affection.

We were focused on the art for a while until we received the news that the Irish Rugby team were training at Carton! It's no surprise that the attention of teenagers was turned from the art to the rugby players. A few lucky girls even got autographs and pictures with Johnny Sexton and Tommy Bowe!! Overall the trip consisted of about 15 minutes of art appreciation, an hour of waiting outside the gym as the players trained, some screaming, tears and even a lost shoe! Thanks for reading, Anita (: