Irish design is about to kick Washington’s ass! Solas Nua will tonight host a fashion show featuring some of Irelands best creative talent; Eilis Boyle, Emma Manley, Sharon Desmond, Yvonne Beale,  Katarzyna Wypych and Orla O’Connon and Deirdre Williams (currently in New York with Rag & Bone).

Sonya Lennon and Christian Ammann’s beautiful short film (DAIS) will also make it’s US debut, while singer and fashion fiend Julie Feeney will take a night out of her US tour to play for the guests and model some of the creations!

Belated post on Joanne Hynes/Helen Steele collaboration at Vauxhall Fashion Scout last Tuesday during London Fashion Week. It was SO much fun. I sat with my good mate Aisling who coincidently styled Joannes SS11 shoot which I LOVE. Anyway, there we all were a bunch of Irish style heads and press waiting patiently for the rebirth of Joanne Hynes. It was worth the wait.

Firstly I think teaming with the talented Ms Steele was genius and the resulting printed dresses were particularly beautiful (1st shot above is one of my favourites). It was a veritable fashion feast with texture playing a huge part, sometimes a little too much. The aran playsuits-ace, the jewelled knits-perfect, the printed silks-wonderful, the signature leathers updated with metallics-cool. The tweed column dresses made me scratch my head a little and I’m not really sure why these were included although they made the next day papers thanks to Joe Hogan’s nest hat thingys.

Overall I think it was a massive step in the right direction and I was proud to watch it-it made people smile. I know Joanne for a while and have always felt there was a disconnect between what she designed and how she dressed herself. She’s got an amazing sense of personal style and for the first time in a long time it felt like Joanne Hynes.

The show was styled by the wonderful Annemarie O’Connor who, to be fair, was faced with a pretty big challenge. With a critical eye I would say that it lacked a bit of focus and the edit could have been sharper but overall the whole team did a pretty amazing job. Here’s to next season!

How cute are these espadrilles from Penney’s? Now that it’s Spring pretty soon these will be the ideal footwear choice; good with ankle grazer jeans, dresses, mini’s, shorts and basically everything bar 70′s flares. The problem will be choosing a pair-although at 4 quid a shot maybe you don’t have to choose!

Simone Rocha is the new darling of Irish fashion and her presence on the schedule at London Fashion Week has given a new energy to a sometimes frustrated local industry. This was her second season showing as part of Fashion East under the sponsorship of Topshop…

It was an exploration into the juxtaposition between masculinity and femininity which has become Simone’s signature but this time it was more about the fabric than the shape. Chunky cable knits under tulle, ponyskin, fake fur, shearling and leather all featured making her precise tailoring seem interesting and suitably youthful. View entire collection here

What I LOVED: The tea stained gingham collars. The SHOES-oh those perspex heeled shoes. The crowns (a play on last seasons veils, now stocked in Topshop)

Not so much: There was not much I didn’t like but the fur tube dress, although tapping into the texture trend that’s rife for AW11, looked a little less considered than the rest.

Styling done as always by the talented Celestine Cooney with brother Simone’s brother Max providing the wonderful soundtrack…Nice.

I’m still in London and here’s a quick rundown with more juice and proper reviews to follow.

Peter Pilotto rocked and has grown up with long coats and dresses, more tailored pieces and a greater emphasis on sillohette rather than print. Texture is the buzz word with fur making up a big part of that (Anna Wintour and Hillary Alexander even had a fur off throughout the week). Add leather, metallic, velvet, silk, lots (and LOTS) of knitwear to said fur and you get the texture picture.

After Todd Lynn (leather, fur, avatar hair) I skipped off to hit up Topshop for some M250 action with my sweetheart Aisling Farinella. Not the usual demolition but after tea and plans in the fitting room we left! Dinner with a fashion friend fuelled me up for some dancing. On to the British Fashion Council designer party in Mahiki which was ace; at one point I was dancing next to Harold Tillman the head of BFC-busting some nice moves to 80′s choons in fairness. I was wearing my fab Tim Ryan fringed jacket which was a bit of a hit… pics to follow and maybe even on ELLE.com!

Today started with Joanne Hynes and Helen Steele in Vauxhall Fashion Scout. There was a serious Irish turn out which was cool-I sat up front with Ais for a good view! Constance Harris was there along with Deirdre McQuillan, Tatler’s Jessie Collins, Jessica Whyte from Social and Personal and lots’ more.  Julie Feeney and Sharon Coor represented the music heads. I’ll review the show in detail later but in short it was a mix of everything! Aran knits, brocade, tweed, leather, fur, skins, mellatics, Helen’s silk prints( beautiful) and crazy platform shoes. Quick interview with the ever-dapper Brendan Courtney from Off the Rails backstage and I’m off!

After that I went to see Melanie Rickey who was doing a Q&A with David Koma in Topshop, really nice informal chat about the industry and design in general, quick catch up with her and I dashed to Fashion East where Simone Rocha was showing with James Long and Elliot Atkinson. Simone’s collection was ACE, again I’ll get into later in the week but the shoes alone were enough to make me sweat.  Front row perving on Scott Schuman, Natalie Hartley, Nicola Roberts and Brix Smith was fun!

Which brings us to now… I’m off to Ashish where Celestine Cooney will no doubt work her magic again! Over and out. Dinner with my sis, home tomorrow, flat shoes for a week!

My one’s to watch below;

Friday 18th February
19.00 Bora Aksu

Saturday 19th February
13.00 Jaeger London
14.15 John Rocha
20.30 Central Saint Martins

Sunday 20th February
16.00 Osman

Monday 21st February
9.45 David Koma/Holly Fulton
15.00 Todd Lynn
18.00 Mark Fast

Tuesday 22nd February
14.45 Emilio de la Morena
18.45 Ashish

Wednesday 23rd February
9.00 J.W. Anderson
17.00 KTZ

Alexander Wang: Sports Luxe, Oversized Tailoring. Fur Trimmed.

Marc Jacobs: Polka Dots. Pill-box hats. Latex Skin.

Preen: Tangerine Dream. Old Lady, Silk Collared Blouse.

The Row: Romantic Goth. Androgynous. Mary Kate (Olsen!)

Thyskens Theory: Sexy Dark. Practical Masculine. Sexy Sheer.

Jill Stuart: Foxy. Stain Glass Window. Juxtaposition.3.1 Philip Lim: Playing with proportions. Utilitarian. Urban.

DKNY: Preppy. New York Mod. Pork Pie Hats.

Proenza Schouler: Mish Mash Textures. Tribal Textiles. Pure Perfection.

THE END!

Designer Talk: Feb 24th – Eilis Boyle (7pm – 8.30pm)

On Feb 24th Eillis Boyle will launch the first of the Re-dress Better Fashion Industry Talks at the HQ.  Boyle will tell her story; talking through her label, her inspirations and her experiences.

Places are limited so email tickets@re-dress.ie to reserve a place. The talk will be followed by a glass of wine and an opportunity to network, always fun! It’s free for members and just €3 on the door for non-members.

Images styled by Aisling Farinella, photographer by Rich Gilligan

Work has taken over somewhat of late and I haven’t been reading. Woe is me right? Surely there are bigger problems in the world! But, it’s funny; I have an iPhone, iPad and two laptops; my reading is done more and more online. I’m absorbing news throughout the day and getting stuck into articles fed through twitter. By the time I have time to read I’m all read out!

But I found these images on AnOther yesterday and they made me realise, no matter how handy a Kindle/iPad is there’s something romantic and personal about books that you just can’t get from a piece of well thought-out plastic (that’s what these things are made of I’m sure!). The last book I read was Isabella Blow’s biography, what next? Pictures optional…

Last year while on holiday I stumbled into a small boutique in San Sebastian and instantly fell in love with the great pieces there. But when I checked the label on an awesome pair of leather trousers and sequinned blouse it was the same-MAJE-in fact it was the same on everything. OK, perhaps I was a tad hungover and the wine hue prevented me from seeing the chain from the boutique but it felt like a boutique. Nice staff, wonderful windows, cute fitting rooms and limited runs. I bought a dress and managed to leave the leather pants! But, a few weeks ago at a meeting with BT2 they told me about all the exciting plans for the store over the coming months, Maje concession included. Wine hue or not, I’m there!