Fashion

All about weave: the creative potential of homegrown fabrics

Some of Ireland’s top designers collaborated with wool and linen weavers for TextISLE

Karen wears a pinafore-style dress and coat in herringbone tweed, both by Mariad Whisker for John Hanly. Yomiko wears a black linen skirt with navy apron by 31 Chapel Lane. Louise wears a tweed pinafore-style dress and eco-friendly wool parka coat by Mariad Whisker for John Hanly.

Deirdre McQuillan's face
Deirdre McQuillan
Sat Jan 14 2017 - 06:01

Starting next Sunday, the Showcase 2017 Creative Expo runs at the RDS, from January 22nd-25th, and the highlight will be TextISLE, a special project focusing on the creative potential of Irish textiles in fashion and homewares. A number of Ireland’s top fashion designers were selected to collaborate with Irish wool and linen weavers north and south in innovative and invigorating ways and the results will be on display in the Minerva Suite for the duration of the event.

“It is a way of driving new ideas in the industry,” says Brian McGee of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DDCoI), who led the initiative, in a follow-up to last year’s successful knitwear project.

Challenge

Yomiko wears a linen kimono by Stable of Ireland with Thomas Ferguson. Louise wears a polo-neck jumper in yarn by Donegal Woollen Mill with trousers in Irish linen by Emblem Weavers, both by Pearl Reddington. Karen wears pinafore-style tweed dress and eco-friendly wool parka coat by Mariad Whisker for John Hanly.

Louise wears a full-length lattice-knit coat and dress in aqua mist 100 per cent luxe merino pure wool. Yomiko wears a pinafore-style dress in tweed by Mariad Whisker for John Hanly with a throw in 100 per cent luxe merino pure wool by Irelands Eye. Karen wears a full-length cable-knit coat and dress in forest glade 100 per cent luxe merino pure wool by Irelands Eye.

When Mariad Whisker headed down to John Hanly, one of Ireland’s oldest weaving companies in Tipperary, she returned home laden down with 10 bolts of fabric, including eco-friendly throws of undyed natural yarns. The results are the coats and dresses photographed here. “I love collaborations,” she says. “It gives you a bit of a challenge – you are in somebody else’s space and out of your comfort zone.”

Peter O’Brien travelled to Carlingford Lough to Mourne Textiles, famous for its work with Sybil Connolly in the 1950s, and immediately fell in love with a black and white basket weave tweed that was originally made for Connolly, which he has transformed into a flamboyant coat with lantern sleeves and a strapless, boned-bodice dress.

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Lucy Clarke of Elks has created grown-up versions of her tweed children’s wear with Magee of Donegal, and 31 Chapel Lane (an Irish-Australian partnership) in Limerick collaborated with Emblem Weavers in Wexford for the lovely linen apron skirts and dresses shown here.

Elsewhere, Helen Steele has worked jointly with Ceadogán Rugs; Claremorris-based Deirdre Duffy of Wild Cocoon with Donegal Yarns and Cooper Handcraft; Electronic Sheep with Fisherman out of Ireland; and Milan based Nuala Goodman with Fergusons of Banbridge, the only company in the world making double damask linen.

Luxury goods

“This is not about massive quantities but making small quantities of higher- end goods. Ireland can never compete on volume, but we can keep rural jobs in rural areas producing luxury goods for the international market. Sustainable Ireland is what we are after,” says McGee.

Craft collaborations are now a significant feature of international design fairs and Showcase is now one of Ireland’s largest international trade shows. Elsewhere at Showcase, Design Ireland, another initiative of the DDCoI, will feature 90 Irish brands chosen for their creativity, innovation and craftsmanship,

Showcase runs from Sunday, January 22nd-Wednesday, January 25th at the RDS for trade attendance only.

showcaseireland.com

Photography: Sasko Lazarov of Photocall Ireland. Styling: Catherine Condell assisted by Grace Browne. Hair: Michael Long. Make-up: Zoe Clark assisted by Nicola Conway. Models: Karen and Yomiko at Assets; Louise @ Morgan the Agency