Latest news with #IrelandFashionWeek
Times
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Look out London and Paris, there's a new fashion week in town
Tweed, tech and a touch of trad — Paul Costelloe is set to headline the first Ireland Fashion Week, describing the event as a 'historic moment'. Not to be confused with Dublin Independent Fashion Week which returns for its third year from September 22, Ireland Fashion Week will run from October 6 to 10 in venues in Dublin, Connemara and the midlands. It will feature three flagship shows, two spotlight events and three mixed showcases, highlighting graduate and professional designers. Costelloe, Sinead Keary, Aoife McNamara and Rashhiiid by Rachel Maguire are among the 54 Irish designers who will be taking part, while Thalia Heffernan will model some of their designs. Costelloe, who turned 80 last month, reported retained earnings of €2 million to the end of August last year through his company Paul Costelloe Design Management. Commenting on his involvement in Ireland Fashion Week, he told The Sunday Times: 'It is a historic moment when Irish fashion steps out of the shadows to be acclaimed and considered. It shouldn't compare itself to Paris or London fashion weeks but base itself on its own culture and creativity.' The event is an initiative by Ashley McDonnell, a Galway-born digital leader in luxury and tech who is the managing director of Puig, a Spanish fashion and beauty business with subsidiaries such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Nina Ricci and Charlotte Tilbury. McDonnell, who lives in Dublin and Paris, said she had a long wish list of designers and models that she wanted to be involved. Thankfully this is now reality. She has also invited Sidney Toledano, a former chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, as well as Jonathan William (JW) Anderson. 'In terms of designers, we also have Bold Golf, a brand that I only discovered during the application process and I'm so impressed by what they have built in a year and a half,' she said. 'For our mixed show, which is under the theme of 'Irish roots', we have ten designers that will do four looks each and are going to tell the story of Ireland through fashion. 'That one is going to be something that blows everyone away because we've got designers who basically graduated in the last year, all the way to Magee which was founded in 1866. We'll also have a couple of models coming over from Paris and London and we'll be able to give their names pretty soon.' McDonnell, 31, said the aim of Ireland Fashion Week was to build a robust, domestic fashion industry that had 'financial accountability and could be self-sustained'. She said: 'One thing I feel that we have struggled with in Ireland is building an actual robust industry where everyone involved is able to be financially independent and where we can pay all the other creatives that need to be involved in a successful fashion business. So that's what the idea behind all of this is. 'The beauty of Ireland Fashion Week is that it's the first one, so we're able to set the standards really high. It was never my dream to create a fashion week but ultimately I want to build the future luxury group of Ireland platform brands and help them go international. I felt that without a really strong platform at home for brands to build that foundation, brands would be limited.' McDonnell said Ireland Fashion Week would focus on authenticity, with Irish themes built into each show. 'Somebody asked me how will it be unique, how will someone look at an image or video from the week and know that it's Ireland fashion,' she said. 'The beauty of Ireland is that I don't think we're going to struggle with that because we are really unique. We lean into our heritage with textiles, our environment and architecture. 'We are producing shows that will be running from themes of heritage and modern heritage to Irish roots, and Irish themes with sportswear and streetwear. I don't think anyone's going to have any issues in identifying Ireland Fashion Week and that that's an Irish designer.' McDonnell believes her event could eventually compete with the likes of London and Paris. 'This is a long-term investment — we have a tech fund of €7.5 million that will be distributed across all of those designers,' she said. 'We have a production budget of €1 million for our events and shows and we are subsidising 90 to 100 per cent of the cost of these fashion shows. 'We are doing this because we see it as a strategic investment to boost the whole creative ecosystem. I hope this will also speed us up in catching up with other countries and cities that have fashion weeks around the world.' Heffernan will host a model boot camp as part of the week, which will aim to find and nurture Irish talent. McDonnell said: 'This was the brainchild of Thalia. She came to me and said, 'I want to be a part of this in a more authentic and valuable way. I want to be able to help spot upcoming talent but also give people the tools they need to be able to succeed.' 'We're going to be hosting a casting day which Thalia will be a part of and then we're going to host the model boot camp where models are able to learn everything from how to walk on the runway, but also how to build their modelling careers.' McDonnell, who dreamt of a career in fashion from the age of 16, began working for Christian Dior in Paris when she was 23. 'Anyone who was with me in secondary school will probably say that they always knew I'd end up working in fashion,' she said. 'I heard about a show that was going to take place in London, showcasing illustrations from Christian Dior. I went to the exhibition and said to my mum, 'I'm going to work for Christian Dior in Paris.' She didn't say that's impossible and she didn't say it's possible either. 'I did my research and realised most people that worked in fashion at Christian Dior studied at HEC Paris [the business school]. It took me a few years but I eventually got there and sure enough, in my first week, we had a recruiter on campus from Christian Dior. Before I even graduated, I had a full-time offer to join the headquarters in Paris as a digital manager.'
Irish Independent
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘No one is going to cheer louder for Irish design than Irish people', says creator of Ireland's first Fashion Week
Ashley McDonnell (31), who hails from Craughwell, Co Galway, said the country's first couture fashion week – being held in Dublin from October 6 to 10 – will draw from her experience with French and Irish luxury brands. 'I want to make sure that we're able to bring as much of the public into this experience as possible,' Ms McDonnell said. 'We'll be doing reruns after most of the main shows, which will allow members of the public to buy tickets to come to the shows. 'Prices for matinees for example would be noticeably lower,' she added. The former Smurfit Business School and HEC Paris graduate, is now a director with luxury beauty brand Puig, and wants to bring her own experience to Fashion Week. 'Designers and creatives in Ireland don't always have access to the culture and education that designers in the UK, France, and other countries may have, so it's important to keep things as accessible as possible,' she said. 'As an Irish person who's had this very fortunate international experience, I feel an obligation to bring as much of that back as possible during Ireland Fashion Week.' Ireland Fashion week will open and close in the nation's capital, but shows will be outsourced across various counties. 'We want to make sure, not only are we able to engage with local communities and local designers, but that we're also able to showcase the beauty of Ireland as an island, not just what's happening in Dublin,' Ms McDonnell said. New designers will be able to submit their works to be featured in one of seven shows throughout the week, across Flagship, Spotlight, Graduate and Independent and Emerging designer shows. The three flagship shows will have various themes such as Irish heritage, modern heritage and contemporary design. The collections featured in the smaller 'spotlight shows' will draw from sportswear and streetwear trends. The penultimate and final shows will be graduate shows inspired by the wonders of the Irish sea and an understanding of Irish roots. 'The most important part of a runway is first and foremost, the collection. What you actually see coming down the runway. That needs to have that wow effect,' Ms McDonnell said. 'But if you don't have an equally strong creative team made up of brilliant photographers and videographers, you're going to really limit yourselves on how you're able to communicate that show.' She said the final element needed to ignite the chemistry on a runway is brought by attendees. 'Every single show is going to have a curated guest list that, one, reflects the actual ethos of the designer that's showcasing,' she said. 'Two, [it] is going to help amplify the story and the collection through reaching their audience. Each designer is going to be very unique, so it's really important for us that we have a different attendee list per show as well.' Ms McDonnell credits a noticeable Irish fashion renaissance to 'the success of individual Irish designs and people [like herself] who continue to shout about it'. 'Jessica Livett and Anne O'Shea are two women that really champion Irish design. We don't stop talking about Irish designers, we'll constantly wear Irish designs and promote them as best as we can,' she said. 'It's only when people in Ireland become advocates for Irish design that it'll become something recognised internationally as well.' The entrepreneur's decision to launch herself into this venture came from the realisation that no amount of effort put into showcasing Irish design would bear fruit if people in Ireland were not familiar enough with them to advocate for them internationally. 'No one is going to cheer louder for Irish design than Irish people who are in Ireland and Irish people living abroad,' Ms McDonnell said. With this in mind, she chose those who cheer the loudest for Irish fashion as members of the board and jury, including stylist Zeda, former Irish Independent Fashion editor Bairbre Power, designer Aoife McNamara, and lead singer of Picture This, Ryan Hennessy. 'I paid close attention to the gaps I had in knowledge, experiences and expertise,' Ms McDonnell said. 'I have been in the business world of luxury for quite some time now, and one of the most important things is your board.' Running until May 23, established or emerging Irish designers, and students of design, are urged to apply for Ireland Fashion Week shows. To anyone who might still be unsure of whether to apply and have their works walk down the national runway come October, Ms McDonnell added: 'Just apply. We're going to give you all of the resources, help and support necessary to create something absolutely spectacular.'
