STUDENTS at a Thurrock campus have stepped up the challenge and produced competition entries after being set the task of creating garemtns out of rubbish.

Now the UNI Centre South Essex has announced the winners of its 2021 Rubbish Costume Competition. The challenge, set by the BA (Hons) Costume Construction team based at the Thurrock and Purfleet campuses, gave entrants a chance to show off their innovation skills by creating a garment out of everyday household objects or rubbish.

The winner of the over 18s category is Lura Hepler with a strong silhouetted design themed on science fiction fantasy.

Judges said: "It was lovely to see such innovative use of resources that has led to a wonderful final costume and character."

The runner up in older category was Hannah Bottomley, who combined old meets new with clear historic references to upcycle a pair of household rubber gloves.

Beth-Rheanna Gibson won the under 18s prize with her innovative use of face masks and embroidery to create a very current design relating to both Covid-19 and climate change.

Suraya Savage was the runner up in the younger category creating a fully realised costume plus supporting bag made with innovative construction techniques.

Each winner will be awarded a costume mannequin as their prize so they can continue to create designs, plus the two runners up will receive £25 worth of sewing vouchers each.

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Lou Cox, Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Costume Construction, said: "It has been wonderful to see so much interest in the competition again this year, there were lots of great entries making it difficult for the team to judge. Congratulations to the winners and runners up, thank you to everyone who entered".

The BA (Hons) Costume Construction programme places an emphasis on the knowledge and use of both historical and contemporary pattern cutting, construction, textiles and finishing techniques. Areas of study may include opera, dance, theatre, musical theatre, performance art, film and television. For more information about the degree, check out this link.