The closure of Alias Tom at the heart of Dublin’s Royal Hibernian Way isn’t just the end of an era, it’s the end of several eras stretching back to when a pair of flares could drive Dublin’s dedicated followers of fashion into a frenzy.
The Tom behind the Alias was Tom Kennedy who first opened a shop in the long-gone Creation Arcade just off Grafton St in 1970, making an almost instant name for himself by selling Elephant Flares – imagine the widest pair of bell bottoms you can and you’re still not even close.
It was an unfortunate time – not least when it came to fashion – and Dubliners of the day weren’t spoiled for choice or sense so queues of folk desperate to get their hands on the flares formed around the block.
The excitement cemented the shop’s reputation as the place to go for cutting edge fashion and by the mid 70s Kennedy had moved from the fairly grotty arcade to a more salubrious strip just down the street under the Alias Tom name.
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Alias Tom never looked back and dressed and even employed some of Ireland’s most glittering stars. It put clothes on the backs of U2, Boyzone and Westlife and got Johnny Logan ready for his Hold Me Now Eurovision triumph in 1987. Even Nicole Kidman came through the doors when filming Far and Away with Tom Cruise and left with a silk patterned shirt if not a decent Irish accent.
Before Nicky Byrne from Westlife was Nicky Byrne from Westlife he was Nicky from Alias Tom and sold designer suits and smart casual wear to well-heeled Dubliners.
[ Famed Dublin fashion outlet Alias Tom goes into liquidation amid mounting lossesOpens in new window ]
While the clothes Alias Tom stocked, more often than not embossed with Italian labels were hard to find elsewhere Kennedy did more than sell clothes and was skilled at making connections across the Dublin social scene with his shop becoming a day time hub for celebs looking for clobber to go clubbing in the Pink Elephant, Renards or Lillies Bordello all of which were on his doorstep.
He sold up years ago and although it has continued to sell high end clothes, the tide has long been going out on what made it unique.
Brown Thomas, Arnotts and dozens of other shops encroached on its patch while virtual shopping broadened its customers’ choices further with the pandemic dealing it another near mortal blow with its fine line in expensive suits of little interest to remote workers.
But there were other challenges too, including high rents, high overheads and reduced footfall all of which have come together to bring the Alias Tom eras to an end with it likely to join all the other retailers that have come and gone across Dublin and be little more than a memory which will fade as time passes.
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