Compiled by DEIRDRE McQUILLAN
Get the boot in
With Electric Picnic almost upon us, it’s Hunters rather than heels when it comes to footwear. These little ankle boots from Fitzpatricks in Dublin, are called the Festival Stud (€180) and are another, more rock ’n’ roll version of the more robust and rustic knee-length, and have three narrow, studded straps on the ankle to keep you grounded. Fitzpatricks also does the more traditional kind, and in an array of colours.
Rare bird
A dress with its original hummingbird print, showing dozens of birds flying in all directions, is the work of Jennifer Rothwell, the Irish designer who has been invited to showcase her spring/summer 2013 collection in Emerging Trends at Boston Fashion Week at the end of September. It is the first time an Irish designer has been invited to this event and she sees it as a great way to promote Irish fashion design to a US audience. The collection, in silk charmeuse, of circle and side-draped dresses, printed shirts and fitted peplum jackets, has been entirely made in Dublin and will be on sale in Project 51, South William Street, Dublin and online at jrothwell.net.
Boutique of the week
“Mais Il est Ou le Soleil?” is the name of a quirky French fashion brand that will have a certain resonance in Ireland where we’ve not seen much of the sun this summer. You’ll find it in La Boheme in Dingle, Elaine Sheehy’s engaging little boutique that attracts fashion-conscious tourists and holiday-home owners from Dublin, Cork and elsewhere, many amused by the high Nelly outside. Late summer is a good time to visit, coinciding with the Rose of Tralee Festival, but also because there are sales, bargains, new arrivals (from FeeGee, White Stuff, etc) not to mention stylish French and Danish rainwear. Sheehy, who clocked up experience in Selfridges and Brown Thomas, opened La Boheme in her hometown in 1998 and moved to her current premises in a former art gallery a few years ago.
La Boheme, Green Street, Dingle, Co Kerry. 066-9152444.
Tank time
If there is one timekeeper that this writer finds irresistible and unaffordable, it's the Cartier Tank, a design that transcends fashion and age. A new book Cartier: The Tank Watch, beautifully illustrated, charts its beginnings when Louis Cartier made a sketch in December 1916 of a watch with four lines forming a square with a strap fitted between them. Over nearly a century, that original design has been reinterpreted in various ways, but remains essentially the same. There are images of Rudolph Valentino wearing one, as well as Duke Ellington, Cary Grant and Noel Coward, and more recent fans such as Madonna and Andree Putman. Written by Franco Cologni, historian and specialist in haute horlogerie, it chronicles the watch's history, evolution, and continuing appeal to devotees. Published by Flammarion, €125.
