Hurry, hurry, hurry: get your tickets now for what will be the most fascinating fashion show this year. The Grafton Academy of Dress Designing is holding a special 60th-anniversary show on Friday at 8 p.m. in the RDS Concert Hall and its list of graduate participants makes daunting reading. Among those who will be showing clothes from their current collections are Paul Costelloe, Pat Crowley, Richard Lewis, Louise Kennedy, Sharon Hoey, Cuan Hanly, Mary Gregory and Quin & Donnelly. In addition, there are to be special visitors from overseas and the pick of the current crop of students (including the winner of a Clery's £2,000 bursary for the department store's new uniforms) and even a special retrospective section featuring Ib Jorgensen and Neilli Mulcahy. Telephone the Grafton Academy (01 676 3653/6767940) and book your tickets, at £15 each, now.

Calling all woolly women: Belfast knitter Maggie Jackson, who runs her own successful company, MaggiKnits, is holding a special open day at her Ormeau Avenue studio, on Sunday, April 25th, featuring Maggie's tips, designs, and predictions. For anyone travelling from Dublin, tickets cost £42 sterling each (includes return transport and lunch); telephone 080 1232322927.

As noted by our art critic Aidan Dunne last week, coinciding with the truly wonderful exhibition of Ingres portraits currently running at the National Gallery in London, Ingres in Fashion is a beautiful guide around the 19th-century neo-classical artist's interest in clothes. Over a career of more than 60 years, Ingres showed changing tastes in dress through his portraits of the restored aristocracy and emerging bourgeoisie, and author Aileen Ribeiro's book is of interest to anyone who loves fashion.

Ingres in Fashion by Aileen Ribeiro is published by Yale University Press, £30 in UK.