Ellen Ryan is the debut author of Girls Who Slay Monsters, which offers unsung stories about ancient Irish goddesses, re-imagined for nine to twelve-year olds. From a gender-fluid spy who outwitted an army; and a giant who overcame the bullies that body-shamed her; to an Iranian Irish hero-trainer; and a shapeshifting eco-warrior, readers will meet diverse goddesses who have been forgotten for long enough.​

Ellen Ryan is a journalist and contributor to the Irish Times and Irish Independent. She has a passion for Irish myth and loves to visit archaeological sites (though she always brings a raincoat). Along with her husband and daughter, Ellen is lucky to live by the sea in Ireland’s County Wicklow, where she can keep an eye out for sea gods.

Design Name: Royal Goddess ​

Location: Ashbourne, Co. Meath​

Design Description:​

Our dress is called Royal Goddess. For our design, our inspiration is a peacock, and our message is all the waste that comes with shopping. The top part of our dress is a weaving technique with cut up receipts and spray-painted it blue, we cut spray-painted and made loops out of shopping bags for the skirt. ​

After we chose the inspiration of a peacock, we knew we wanted to make a train on the dress like a peacocks feathers so we cut painted and glued down around 350 strips on a piece of gold mesh that my granny was no longer using to make our train. For our head piece we chose to use can tabs to make our crown and we spray painted it gold and added feathers on top. For our shoes we used papier-mâché with left over receipts and made bows out of some of the gold mesh we had left. We are located in Ashbourne Co. Meath. 

Design Name: A Journey to the Past ​

​Location: Southeast (Laois) ​

Design Description:​

The dress is called a Journey to the Past, made mostly of maps of Ireland. This dress represents a celebration of the highways and byways of Ireland and the vast array of methods of public transport available to explore our beautiful country. Using public transport for traveling to work, campus or business-related travel has many benefits including reduced congestion, time efficiency, and cost savings. Created in a classic 1910s style this dress encourages the viewer to embrace public transport and work towards achieving Ireland's targeted 51% transport emissions reduction by 2030. 

Design Name: Beneath the Waves  ​

​Location: Gael Colaiste Cill Dara, Naas, Co. Kildare  ​

Design Description: ​

Our design Beneath the Waves tells the story of a mermaid-like creature who has been corrupted by the plastic and oil pollution that plagues our oceans today. One half of the dress represents the clean, pristine natural beauty of the ocean. The other half tells a different story with plastic-like scales to represent that over 11 million metric tons of plastic and waste end up in the ocean each year and it is estimated that over 200 metric tons of plastic currently circulate our oceans. We used many ocean themes on our dress, for ex. fishnets for overfishing.  ​

Design Name: Post Pandemic Eabha (PPE)  ​

Location: Coláiste Íosagain, Portarlington , Co. Laois ​

Design Description ​

This design is made using surgical gloves, face masks and medical syringes. ​

Design Name: Starting from Scratch​

Location: Colaiste Iosagain Portarlington. ​

Design Description​

It is about teaching children at a young age about recycling and reusing.

Design Name: Player Behind the Mask  ​

​Location:  St. Angela’s College, Cork.  ​

Design Description ​

Our dress is called Player Behind the Mask, and we are from St Angela’s college cork. ‘Player Behind the Mask’ represents the inner beauty & allure of female sports players juxtaposed with that of great power and immense talent. It has a voluminous skirt with ruffled texture & off shoulder type top. The team crests throughout depict the player's loyalty, dedication & team spirit. The boots are adorned with old batteries to represent the repeat intake into local clubs. The flowers & branches represent the growth & identity of the players. People are misled in thinking that kindness & strength cannot coexist, ‘Player Behind the Mask’ aims to shatter these misconceptions. 

Design Name:  Nature Within ​

​Location:  Boyle, Co. Roscommon   ​

Design Description ​

‘Nature Within’ symbolises a deeper relationship between us and the tranquillity of the world around us. Nature inspires creativity in today’s youth inspiring us to explore art. The intricate design employs the use of weaving, crochet and knitting. The use of these techniques symbolise the serenity associated with nature, as the crocheted string and panels resemble the twisting and entangling of vines, demonstrating how people can become one with the world surrounding us and take inspiration from nature around us to inspire creativity within us. 

Design Name:  Fallen Leaves  ​

​Location:  Boyle, Co. Roscommon .  ​

​Design Description ​

Our design is inspired mostly by nature and consists of a skirt created by varnishing autumn leaves and sewing them together, paper machéing an old second hand corset and designing it with willow sticks we spray painted gold and leaves we folded and tied into roses, a headpiece created from an old scrap of metal we decorated with golden tinfoil, more willow sticks and roses made out of leaves and a pair of old boots paper machéd with the heels made out of old palm leaves that were frilled and spray painted gold.  

Design Name:  Glamping ​

Location:   Creagh College, Wexford  ​

​Design Description ​

At the end of every summer Irish media is awash with images depicting the ugly aftermath of music festivals: acres of rubbish and bulldozers cleaning up thousands of abandoned tents. In 2019, 70% of tents brought to Electric Picnic were left behind as waste. The designer asked, “What if we transformed materials from discarded tents into fashion that could be worn by the performers the following year?” This project is the result of seeing value in tent materials, from the ground sheet to fastenings and everything in between… truly putting the ‘glam’ back into Glamping.  ​

​Over dress that was made of a ground sheet. Under dress was made up of the sleeping compartments of the tent along & the sheer window fabric & tags from the tent. Wig is made of a poncho & tent sewn to the waist of a pair of tights. Collar is made of baling twine and tent cord and painted tent fastenings. Shoes were bought second hand & has cord sewn to them. Bag was made from a coat and tent. The outfit is completely done by hand with no gluing involved.         

Design Name:  Fast and Fabulous  ​

Location: Heywood Community School, Balinakill, Laois​

​Design Description ​

It is made entirely out of car parts and car accessories. 

Design Name:  AutistiCAN ​

​Location:   Bailieborough Community School, County Cavan ​

Design Description ​

​Our dress was made of empty soft drink cans, showing a range of different colours. In today's society, we have a better knowledge of people with special needs and how we can accommodate them . The use of colour on our dress is to symbolise the colourful personality of autistic children. ​

Our headpiece is a rose which was chosen to symbolise our society blossoming and being more aware of what autism is. We chose to base this project on autism as a member of our team is autistic. I feel that over the last few weeks, I have become more familiar with this developmental disorder and learned how people with autism have broken free from being labelled. THAY CAN BE WHO THEY WANT TO BE!!!  

Design Name: Koffee Kouture ​

Location:   Castleknock, Dublin 15 ​

Design Description

Koffee Kouture is a design made from Old clothing, metal wire and, of course, lots of coffee pods.☕ Koffee Kouture inspires the use of bright colours through its design and is a commentary on the overconsumption of one-use coffee pods.  ​

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​Design Name:  A Sailor’s Dream​

Location:   Colaiste Mhuire, Ballygar, Galway. ​

Design Description

The form and structure of the costume represents a Mermaid.  The designers were inspired by the character of the Merrow in Irish Mythology and Folklore.  In this costume, the sailor’s dream has turned into a nightmare of ocean pollution and plastics. Made from a secondhand corset, broken and sanded down mirror pieces, orange briquette netting

​Design Name: Let them Eat Bread  ​

Design description

This piece is inspired by the ‘Neoclassical’ era of Marie Antoinette, her style and her famous quote “Let them eat cake”. Eve took a visit to an old flour mill, 'Shackleton Mill' on the River Liffey near her home. She took further inspiration from another French person, a world-famous designer Jean Paul Gaultier and his 'Pain Couture' exhibition 2004 for the Cartier Foundation. While Gaultier created his work literally 'out of bread', the materials used for the dress were drawn from the world of bread-making. 

Design Name: Ex Static  ​

Design Description

My design is inspired by a tech-gothic style. The shiny plastics, black garbage bags and wires reminded me of old, broken or abandoned tech, so I decided for my headpiece to be an old tv. I added gothic style features for detailing and as I thought the black colour would suit the "trash" part of my outfit. ​

My design is made from plastic trash bags, grocery store fruit bags, old insulation foam cardboard, old tape and string. I used different crochet techniques for detail pieces, crocheting the gloves and corset accessories. I used the double crochet and slip stich techniques in my design. ​

​I used the spare wires we had in school and wire scraps from my personal art projects to not be wasteful. I also decided to use household items to limit waste. ​

Design Name: Ode to Joy 

Design description

Inspired by the European Green Deal, Ode to Joy symbolises the values and principles of the EU and its efforts in fighting climate change. The silhouette creates a powerful aesthetic. 27 cable ties frame the head piece, each representing a country in the EU. A Fanning pattern on the skirt, the detailed hand-crafted golden bodice and the blue flowers on the skirt ruffle and sleeves, all express the individualism of each country yet when brought together as one, the garment represents the unity and connection between each EU member states and their commitment to the environment. ​

Design Name: Back to the Future  ​

Design description

Our costume is a futuristic coat of armour. Our planet is on the brink. The risk is real. If we continue to consume and power our lives the way we do now then our forests, oceans and weather systems will collapse. We need to go back in time and live sustainably and reconnect with our planet in order to have a future. If not then it is survival of the fittest for the food we eat, the water we drink and the very air we breathe. 

Design name: I’ll Say I do    ​

Design decription

We dedicated this design to all the brides who weren’t able to walk down the aisle and say I do. It was made form hundreds of flowers made of paper coasters from @dromolandcastlehotel styrofoam and old curtains.We repurposed lace from a recycled wedding dress and used pearls to add detail.  

​Design name: St. Brigid Springs Into Step  ​

Design description

Our design consists of a halter neck top, skirt, train, shoes and headpiece. For our design, we took inspiration from old Celtic Irish history. We choose earthy tones such as green and brown and added gold to incorporate Celtic designs. We wanted our design to look elegant and intricate. We were inspired by St Brigid and her symbolic crosses which represents peace, good will and protection. We view her as an empowering women in Irish history. Made from mostly rushes.