Deidre McQuillanlooks at fashion related issues
Take a trip to Tullow
Knitter Deirdre Minogue cast off her needles and threads two years ago, and has just closed her clothes shop in Tinahely, Co Wicklow, but she has embarked on another retail venture in Rathwood, near Tullow in Co Carlow. This award winning home and garden centre, which has completed a big expansion, has a gift shop, restaurant, garden centre and even a little yellow express train offering rides around its wildflower meadow. Minogue's new shop opened there last month, alongside shoe and accessories shop Tresor, and a number of other boutiques and showrooms. She will continue to provide her customers with her own selection of good looking, easygoing clothes, some with print or pattern, from around a dozen European labels, including the fresh and rather bohemian Soleil from Belgium. See www.rathwood.com
Finger fashion
"Summer is a great time for rings, because girls just love buying them in summer," says jeweller Simon Phelan of Djinn in Dublin 2. Next Thursday sees the tiny shop open an exhibition called 100 Cocktail Rings,which will consist of new and vintage rings, some tribal pieces in silver and glass from his journeys in India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, along with a couple of his own designs in 20-carat gold. Phelan, who travels to India twice a year to work with gold and silversmiths, will also have a number of special pieces for exhibition only. Djinn is at 15a Wexford Street, Dublin 2.
Bringing colour to the shade
Emilio Pucci, the Italian designer famous for his zany, colourful clothes and skiwear, was equally famous for outrageously glamorous eyewear. Designed in the l960s, his vintage sunglasses are now sought-after collectors' items. The new range of Pucci sunglasses (the eyewear lines were launched in Milan last month) are being stocked exclusively in Ireland by Arnotts, where the 30-piece collection retails at about €300-plus for a pair of shades. Pucci, an Olympic skier and politician who started designing after the second World War, was the scion of an aristocratic Italian/Russian family. He once told an interviewer that he was the first in his family to work in 1,000 years. It was said that his colours and bold prints seemed to capture the sun and fun of Italy. The fashion line is now designed by Matthew Williamson.
Havana with love
Nikki Creedon is one of Ireland's most outstanding and adventurous buyers. Her upscale Donnybrook shop, Havana, stocks labels such as Yohji Yamamoto, Azzedine Alaia, Anne Demeulemeester and Comme des Garcons, and she also carries a selection of interesting shoes and accessories. She currently has handmade limited-edition latticed leather bags by Brazilian designer Elisa Atheniense, great peep-toed stilettos from Scorah Pattullo, and oversized black leather bags from the hip Parisian designer Vanessa Bruno. Havana, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, 01-2602707.