Green ideas inspired junior formers at NLSI Lui Kwok Pat Fong College in Kwun Tong to create their own designs for a fashion show of recycled clothing made by students. Biology teacher Tong Cho-shun set up the school's Environmental Protection Society, which sponsored the event in co-operation with the students' union. 'We received more than a hundred entries which we pared down to 26 teams for the final stage,' he said. Students grouped themselves into teams to design and produce fashions made from recycled materials plus a few accessories. Teams turned newspapers into shirts, plastic into blouses and drinking straws into hats before turning their hands to making shoes of cloth. The show itself was staged Tuesday on a catwalk under sparkling lights, with up-tempo music to accompany smiling models showing off their hand-made clothes to enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience. First former Lemon Cheung Ting, 13, and her seven team members won the top prize with an evening gown made of hundreds of spray-painted paper leaves set off by a silver plastic shawl fashioned from bags. 'It was like an engineering project, but we enjoyed it a lot,' said little Ting. She discovered that what many consider 'debris' and 'rubbish' can actually be turned into useful items, and now understands people should not throw away things so thoughtlessly. Principal Lau Man-fai was enthusiastic in his support, and also served as one of the judges. Mr Tong said this type of fashion show, with its special theme, would probably be held every couple of years to keep it from becoming routine.