BT’s fingers on fashion pulse

EUROPEAN catwalks aren’t the only places to see new fashion this month. Brown Thomas Dublin’s Create initiative returns with a pop-up installation featuring 13 esteemed and emerging Irish designers of fashion, accessories, millinery, graphic print and textile design.

The showcase runs throughout September and customers will have the opportunity to meet the hands and minds behind the items in-store. An exhibition of eight exquisite pieces by the late Sybil Connolly, Ireland’s greatest couture designer, will be there to admire and inspire. Launched in 2011, Create is Brown Thomas’s most far-reaching initiative that involves home-grown talent but by no means its first. In 1983, then-buyer Marie McCarthy purchased Louise Kennedy’s entire graduate collection. The pieces were presented like Prada by creative director John Redmond (then visual merchandiser), taking up three of the flagship’s Grafton Street windows. Kennedy opened last year’s Create showcase.

“It was a great honour to have to work with such an amazing company, to learn so much from their buyers and merchandisers and understand the high standards required to survive in this very competitive industry,” says Kennedy. “This assuredness allowed me to develop my collections each season and it placed them on a platform unrivalled by any other luxury department store [in Ireland].” Other successful Irish brands involved with BT have included Orla Kiely, Mary Grant and Pauric Sweeney.

However, it was the dissolution of the store’s relationships with two Irish brands — Paul Costelloe and Quin and Donnelly — that prompted Brown Thomas Create. Quin and Donnelly ceased production following a trademark dispute in 2011, while Paul Costelloe’s supply group, Signature Brands, went into administration.

“I was debating in my head how we would find more Irish designers,” says fashion director Shelly Corkery.

“That was a big blow for the Irish fashion industry and losing two big brands from our store was a wake-up call. I just thought ‘Oh my goodness, where is the next Irish designer coming from?’. Yes, we have brands like Louise Kennedy and Orla Kiely doing extremely well, but these were two big brands that we always did such good business with and they were gone within weeks of one another.”

Corkery resolved to research who was out there and how she could bring them on board. “I found it very difficult initially because there weren’t very many Irish designers knocking at my door.!”

After consulting established designers and Eddie Shanahan, currently president of the Council of Irish Fashion Designers, Corkery conducted interviews with 60 hopefuls. She hasn’t been stuck for candidates since. Shelly makes her final selection each year from those who best meet the retail standard of a luxury department store.

“Everything must be 100% perfectly presented and produced. These products need to hold their own alongside the likes of Prada and Alexander McQueen, so production methods must be solid and the fabrics and finish must be of luxury quality.”

Designers who made the grade this year include Sharon Wauchob, one of the few Irish designers ever to show at Paris Fashion Week. Corkery sees the knitwear contingent as particularly strong this season. Derek Lawlor, Lucy Nagle and Honor Fitzsimons sit alongside returning talent Lisa Shawgi. Maria Dorai Raj’s striking sculptural jewellery is unlike anything I’ve seen with a ‘Made in Ireland’ label. Innovative women’s wear designers Rebecca Marsden and Sean Byrne are returning favourites. Corkery underlines the importance of a commercial education for emerging designers. “They learn everything they need to know about retail from our floor. You learn everything from your customer. If there are issues with a garment, you’d be amazed the number of people that will point it out to you. You need to listen to everything and use it to your advantage for the collection.”

Create also gives space to an Irish couture exhibition for the month. Sorcha Ó Raghallaigh, who has designed extravagant pieces for Florence Welch and Lady Gaga, presented an installation last year, and Belfast designer JW Anderson featured in 2011. The Sybil Connolly exhibition includes some of her most beautiful pieces on loan from the Hunt Museum in Limerick. The exhibition includes ‘First Love’, a strapless evening gown of gossamer-fine black linen. Visitors can also see the designer’s sketch and fabric books, private portraits and national and international press clippings.

* The schedule for Create designer appearances at Brown Thomas Dublin is available at www.brownthomas.com

Creating an opportunity

Portlaoise-based designer Heidi Higgins, above, presented her tailored women’s wear at the first Brown Thomas Create, in 2011. Her brand was retained by the company. Her A/W 2013 collection is available in-store. “I think Create is a wonderful project and I’m very thankful for how it has helped my career. It is a fantastic platform for young Irish designers to showcase their designs to a big audience, and where better than Brown Thomas?”

“My collection sold really well in 2011 and I received a great response from the customers. Following the success of the event, I met with the buying team and Shelley after Create and presented my S/S 2012 collection to them. Since then, I have been selling my collection on the first floor in the ‘classics’ section, and it has been growing each season. The feedback from the buyers and sales team is very valuable.”

“Feedback from the customers is helpful, too. You design with a particular customer in mind and it’s great to remember what they say, when trying on the garments — like having a jacket-and-coat option to wear over a dress. Sleeves are important to them, as is having a variety of lengths on the dresses throughout the collection, to suit all heights, particularly when it’s tailored.”