Deirdre McQuillan's style file
KHAN DO WITH ATTITUDE At Khan's recent spring summer fashion show held in a Sandymount restaurant, fresh pastel colours promised brighter days ahead. Former model Deryn Mackey, owner of the Blackrock boutique, has always cleverly mixed Irish with international labels, and the show was a harmonious blend of home-grown with predominantly Scandinavian brands. In general, the clothes were feminine in spirit, in keeping with current trends, featuring a lot of knitwear, brocades, prints and stripes, with occasional ornamentation. Dresses and delicate knits were the season's imperatives, and there were also a number of narrow, black trouser suits. Lainey Keogh set the mood, opening the show with decorative metallic lace and felted skirts worn with little cashmere cardigans and rainbow weave belts - zany modern takes on the traditional crios.
BIG-C FASHION "Spirited Sisters" is a US clothing company aimed at women undergoing radiation or chemotherapy treatments for cancer. It was founded last year by three sisters, two of whom (Peg and Claire Feodoroff) are themselves sufferers, one with melanoma and the other with colon cancer. With another sister, Patty, they set up the business to make elegant clothes equipped to handle the wear and tear of cancer treatments, thus avoiding the anonymity of hospital gowns. It's a small, but well thought-out collection with all sorts of features and fastenings, and made in practical, stain-repellent, machine washable fabric. A jacket called Elegant, for example, has front frog closures, mandarin collar and kimono-style sleeves and comes in five colour options. Prices are from $75 for "Breakaway" pants, up to $190 for long jackets. They will post abroad, but if ordering, note US sizing differences. Their website is www.spirited-sisters.com.
MARC MY WORDS Marc Jacobs, the US designer who is also creative director of Louis Vuitton in Paris, is rumoured to be designing a new range of crystal for Waterford Glass. Once labelled the Guru of Grunge, the 43-year-old New Yorker launched his own label in 1994 and has become one of America's hottest designers, with several collections to his name, including glassware, home accessories and jewellery. Waterford would be hoping this liaison with a well-known fashion designer would boost flagging sales in the US, which represents half its market. Although John Rocha's range has been successful in Ireland and elsewhere, his name doesn't carry the necessary celebrity clout in the US.