Compiled by Deirdre McQuillan
SWEATERS FROM DROGHEDA "Menswear is a challenge because there are a lot of things men won't wear and so if you get it right, it's exciting." So says Edmund McNulty, the Drogheda-based knitwear designer who is to launch a new menswear range at the end of September, in association with Molloys of Donegal. It will be a basic collection in a brushed wool mixture of baby alpaca and merino fine enough to be worn under jackets. Detail will be in the neckline, colour and texture, and as McNulty has always had an eye for expensive yarns, it will be luxury knitwear at a middle-range price, around €120 a sweater. Colours will be a mixture of greys, blues, bottle green and mink. McNulty works in Millmount, a Drogheda landmark near the famous "Cup and Saucer" Martello Tower, which was opened to the public four years ago, and now houses his shop and studio (041-9844199; Mon-Sat, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.)
TIARAS BY TUULA Slim Barrett, the Irish jeweller based in London, is generally credited with the revival of the tiara as a wedding accessory. The unusual one above is in silver studded with cubic zirconia stones (semi-precious) and was made for a wedding last year by Tuula Harrington, a young Irish-Finnish jeweller who trained with a German master goldsmith in Assisi for three years before completing her studies at Sheffield Hallam University. Approximately 14 centimetres long and six centimetres high, it can be made to order for €400, though her prices start from €200. Harrington, who has just opened a new studio called Designworks in Cork, also has a range of ready-to-wear jewellery. Designworks also offers a repairs and restyling service and is at Floor 1, 34 Grand Parade, Cork (021-4279420, www.tuulaharrington.com). Her work can also be found in: Fishers, Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow; the Kilkenny Design Centre, Kilkenny city; and Whichcraft, Cow's Lane, Dublin 8.
LOW-PRICE PERLA Marks & Spencer may be going through management upheavals, but what is really uplifting about its autumn winter offerings, are the new ranges of lingerie. Their coup was to hire Emanuela Brizzi, design director of La Perla, considered the most beautiful (and expensive) lingerie in the world, to design a range exclusively for them. Called Dolce Vita, the new lingerie is deliciously feminine and sensual, in sophisticated colours such as oyster, brown, rose and black in leopard and feather prints. It comprises 20 pieces, which include basques, slips, bras, knickers and hold-ups. "It's a womanly collection," says Soozie Jenkinson of M&S. "Her cut is fantastic and the range is glamorous, elegant and captures the confident spirit of Italian lingerie." Though it's M&S's most expensive lingerie collection, it's still a fraction of the price of La Perla.