Compiled by DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN
Lacy lady
A lace-making exhibition in Youghal will be part of Culture Night on September 21st, when - like the famous Nuit Blanche in Paris - museums, galleries, churches, artists' studios will remain open late. The exhibition will be hosted by Kay Curtin in her florist shop in Youghal, a town with a long lacemaking history. Curtin inherited her love of the craft from her grand-aunt, who made lace for a living. Queen Victoria's Coronation veil was made of Youghal lace, which has its own distinctive motif - shell stitching around the edge representing the town's maritime associations. It takes about three months to make an A4 piece of lace and it's a dying craft in the area; many women were discouraged from continuing the tradition because it affected eyesight and often caused blindness.
Seagreen of Monkstown has just opened a second shop in Ranelagh in the former Kelli boutique, bringing its familiar mix of fashion, beauty and accessories nearer the city centre. Well known for casual daywear and JBrand jeans, it is now the exclusive stockist in Ireland of Liberty of London and French labels Paul & Joe and Yves Salomon. Stirred into the mix are handbags by Meli Melo, shoes by Lucy Choi (niece of Jimmy Choo), and Pretty Ballerina flats. Seagreen also continues to stock JBrand and Victoria Beckham jeans, as well as the new Karol brand started by the founders of 7 For All Mankind. Fans of Annik Goutal fragrance, Aqua di Parma and Neom, will find them in the new shop which also has greeting cards and Liberty stationery.
Boutique of the week
When Mary Greene saw a shop in Los Angeles called Simply Divine, she knew immediately what she would call the new shop she was going to open in Maynooth in October 2005. "My plan was to combine casual and dressy items under one roof in an array of price points," she says. Two years later she opened her second Divine, in Malahide. Customers in both look for quality, affordable pieces rather than trends, she says. Greene has a nose for new labels, her latest find being Nissa from Romania, a collection combining glamorous evening wear with practical daywear. She places importance on keeping ahead of the posse each season. "Before long other stores pick up on them, and then everybody starts doing them."
Divine, Manor Mills, Maynooth, tel: 01-629 2550 and 2 Strand Street, Malahide, tel: 01-845 3525, divine.ie
Picture-perfect Parkinson
A celebration of the work of Norman Parkinson, who revolutionised fashion photography, is to take place on September 15th in La Vallée, the Chic Outlet shopping village 35 minutes from the centre of Paris. Parkinson, a farmer as well as a photographer, was the official photographer for the British royal family and though his career spanned more than 60 years, his work has rarely been shown in France. The exhibition consists of 23 of his best known fashion images under the theme Travel in Style and is open at Espace La Vallée contemporary art gallery from September 15th to January 6th, 10am-7pm daily, admission free.
