In March 2018 Berg River Textiles, which has been printing the fabric for La Rochelle Girls High School for many years, informed the school that their manufacturing plant in Paarl would be closing down and the fabric would thus no longer be printed locally. The school thus used the opportunity to return to its roots and develop a fabric in the original 1960-design and colourway. To pay homage to the material and in collaboration with 160th birthday celebrations of the school, the 12 Miss La Rochelle Finalists had to create a garment using the discontinued school dress fabric for their crowning event, which was unfortunately cancelled. Each contestant completed twelve hours of community service and raised R3 000 for charity. In the fourth row at the back from left is Elizabeth du Toit, Lyndi Koegelenberg and Mela Botha. Followed by Marietjie Visser, Ilne Claassen and Kerishne-Lee Cornelissen in the third row. In the second row is Elizabeth O’Dowd, Clarissa Scholtz, Lisa Theron and Lisa van Wyk. Standing in front is Michelle Nel (left) and Mia Boshoff (right).
