CLOTHES LINES:SHE IS IRELAND'S answer to Lesage, the celebrated French embroidery house, her petit mains (tiny hands) transforming, with her needlework, a dress or piece of material into something dreamy and luxurious. Helen Fitzpatrick's lavish embroideries have adorned some of the world's most prominent women, such as Princess Diana (for a dress worn to a private function in India), Laura Bush, whose ice-blue ball gown by Oscar de la Renta, worn to her husband's inauguration, was decorated with her designs, and Princess Raina of Jordan, whose wedding dress by Bruce Oldfield sparkled with Fitzpatrick's arrangements of crystal and sequins. A Valentino gown worn by Elle McPherson to the Baftas was another glittering example of her work.
She has worked with some of the giants of the international fashion industry such Bill Blass, Carolina Herrera, Amanda Wakely, Armani, Gucci, Prada, Fendi and Versace, though her favourite designer “for polish and elegance” is unquestionably New York-based Oscar de la Renta. “I have always been inspired by him and learnt a lot and loved working with him,” she says.
Now she is designing a range of jewellery for Tipperary Crystal, available at stockists countrywide for very reasonable prices.
Helen Fitzpatrick is a graduate of the University of Ulster, finishing in l989 with an honours degree in Fine Craft Design. She was part of a generation of Irish designers who revitalised the age-old craft of hand embroidery.
A textile project brought her to New York where she developed her skills further. “It was creativity with a shotgun to your head there – you had to work fast,” she recalls. After five years working with top designers, but never getting much credit, she decided to return home to Lurgan, where she has made her base ever since, and continues to create couture embroideries and jewellery.
She estimates that she has produced more than 5,000 designs in her career to date, using seed beads, crystal, thread work, cut sequins, pearls, metal filigree and satin cut beads sourced in New York markets. She is now working for a New York company called Finesse, and supplies them with 15 to 30 design prototypes a month. “I create the ideas – they bring them to life.” As well as that, she now mostly makes to order for private clients, people such as brides looking for something special. Compared to New York, “Ireland is such a peaceful place to work,” she says.
Her jewellery portfolio has been expanding, varying between ready-to-wear hand embroidered pieces for Tipperary Crystal to key couture designs such as her "Julia" neckpiece currently being worn in an episode of The Tudors. Another specially made item was a cuff for the actress Geraldine Hughes to wear to the premier of Clint Eastwood's movie Grand Torinoin Hollywood.
Her renovated cottage in Lurgan is filled with samples of her embroideries. “I like to mix things such as honeycomb and spider web with a floral theme.” Apart from sheer technical skill, she can produce different “global” designs with impressive tiny details. For one haute couture dress she used special sequins from an old manufacturing house in Paris that has made for Lesage for generations. “You see them in old Balenciagas and Schiaparellis – they’re very unique and special. Italians like big and bold designs whereas the French prefer the smaller detail to intrigue the eye.”
Fabric manipulation and thread work, using the best materials, laces and ribbons, is not only expensive but time consuming, and prices for one-off pieces reflect that. However, her collection for Tipperary Crystal – neckpieces, bracelets, pendants and earrings are more accessible and affordable. “I have always wanted my jewellery to look like pieces cut from the most glamorous and exorbitantly luxurious couture garments,” she says. These start at around €35 for crystal earrings and from €85 up to €250 for necklaces, and can be found in outlets around the country, the main ones being Arnotts in Dublin, House of Fraser, Dundrum and the Tipperary Crystal Centre in Carrick-on-Suir.
www.tipperarycrystalsales.com
