Dublin Independent Fashion Week: Meet the next big designers

Milan, Paris, New York , London, Seoul, all cities synonymous with their respective fashion weeks. Despite Ireland's rich history of design and textile making, and the near constant flow of innovative contemporary creators who emerge each year, The Emerald Isle has been lacking a similar event for quite some time.

Until now, that is.

Enter, Dublin Independent Fashion Week - a week-long event managed by a committee of seven of Ireland’s brightest fashion sparks, showcasing the work of established and up-and-coming designers in the capital.

Irish designers Laoise Carey, Sarah Carroll Kelly, Aisling Duffy, Ríon Hannora, Mihai Mar, Megan McGuigan and Sarah O’Neill are the brains and brawn behind the operation, with 24 designers taking part this year.

The committee came together after a number of the designers were asked to take part in the Trinity Fashion Society Fashion Show as part of their end of year celebrations, and realised this was the only fashion presentation in Ireland available to them at that time.

This opened up a conversation among the creatives about carving out a space on home turf to share their work, which culminated in the first DIFW in 2023.

"This year we are taking it to a new level", said Ríon Hannora, a designer with a zero waste policy and one of the seven committee members.

Speaking about how the team combined their strengths to pull off the event, Hannora explained: "I think we all felt as though we work so hard in order to create new collections yet we didn't have a space to show them off to the world.

"Most designers, once they finish college in Ireland, emigrate in order to excel in their careers and what we wanted to do is to show that you can stay in Ireland and still be successful with the fashion industry. We all run our own businesses individually, on top of creating DIFW. For most of us, it was our first experience with running a public event."

While there are events for a number of designers taking place across the week, the project culminated in a two-day Irish Design Showroom in the Banquet Hall of Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, on 16 November.

"On Saturday, the vibrant and eclectic space for Irish talent to showcase their work will open to the public," says Laoise Carey, another committee member who’s most recent fashion collection is inspired by a childhood spent along Ireland’s Atlantic coast. "The event will feature designer presentations, brought to life through exclusive immersive dance and music performances, including a dance troupe led by Adam O’Reilly and music by Lisa Canny."

It’s a departure from international fashion week offerings which are often only attended by industry insiders. Despite some of the top designers in the world hailing from Ireland - Simone Rocha, JW Anderson, Sean McGirr to name but a few - many designers based here have faced difficulty in finding a platform and the funding to make their brands reach their full potential, something DIFW aims to help change.

"My hope is that the landscape of Irish Fashion has become more open and accepting to a more alternative idea of what fashion can be," said Hannora.

Explaining that fashion isn't clearly recognised as a form of art by the terms of the Arts Act of 2003, she added that, "The lack of funding for fashion in Ireland is something that I hope to see change in the years to come. I feel as though there is a huge gap in the landscape of Irish fashion to be able to celebrate what we have in front of us and I think Dublin Independent Fashion week is just one step closer to making that happen".

While the fashion industry is known to be one of the biggest environmental polluters - contributing about 10% of our annual carbon footprint thanks to our consumer demand for fast fashion - all of the designers featured at DIFW have a focus on slow and sustainable practices in their craft.

"Sustainability is extremely important to all of us designers on the DIFW committee and we took this into consideration when taking brands on board to join us for this year's events," explained Carey, who added that the team collaborated with Magee 1866 and Donegal Yarns to provide some of this year's designers with Irish-made tweed and wool for their collections.

"We are passionate about supporting designers who are doing their best to incorporate sustainable practices into their businesses, whether that is through manufacturing locally here in Ireland, utilising low-impact materials or zero-waste design methodologies."

To put action behind the emphasis on uplifting new design talent, DIFW has incorporated a Ones To Watch feature to ensure emerging brands have a voice in the highly competitive space. Carey explains: "At the Irish Design Showroom, DIFW will debut its Ones to Watch feature in response to having more robust support of the local Irish design scene."

"Six emerging talents on the cusp of breaking through will have a dedicated section for their offerings. We hope that by supporting the next generation of recent fashion, textile and jewelry graduates to showcase their work at DIFW, they will be encouraged to stay in Ireland to potentially set up their businesses here and continue to help the Irish fashion scene to thrive."

These designers were Martin Dolan, 5178, Ciara Egan, Lily Breslin, Niamh M Saunders and Jaf Studios.

While dreams of designing can be made a reality in Ireland, the lack of funding for events to showcase the work can lead to talent that would otherwise prefer to stay here being lost to overseas brands and markets.

"One of the biggest challenges has been securing funding and sponsorships for DIFW. Running an event like this in the Banquet Hall of the historical Smock Alley Theatre is no mean feat, and we are delighted to have received part-funding from the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland in order to hold our Showroom during Irish Design Week," explains Carey.

"Every designer taking part has also contributed financially in order to make the week of events the best it can be, and this self-funding model is a testament to how committed all of us designers are to bring the concept of Dublin Independent Fashion Week to life. We would love to build more partnerships with sponsors over the coming years to continue to make the week bigger and better, year on year."