CLOTHES LINES:The lucky winner of John Rocha's Bursary Award for Motorola Dublin Fashion Week is the Tipperary-born, but London-based knitwear designer Tim Ryan, writes Deirdre McQuillan.
The €10,000 will enable him to develop production and also to have his first solo show in Dublin during Dublin Fashion Week at the end of August. The announcement also coincided with his move to bigger premises in Canary Wharf. Known for his unusually shaped integrated knits, not cut and sewn, his feminine but slightly austere designs are made to flatter the female shape. "Construction is very important even though the styles can change and I am always looking for new ways to flatter the figure," he says. Tim Ryan's knits can be found in 5 Scarlett Row, Dublin, Elaine Curtain in Carlow, Joanne in Killaloe and Juju in Greystones.
Petria Lenehan of Dolls boutique in Dublin's Clarendon Street claims strong family connections with Daniel O'Connell and recently photographed some of her summer season's clothes and accessories in the Liberator's birthplace, Derrynane House and on the beach in Co Kerry. You never quite know what to expect in Dolls, which has a somewhat playful attitude to dressing - it could be unusual shoes, some amusing jewellery and interesting, quirky clothes handpicked mostly from young UK designers such as Jens Laugesen and Peter Jensen. Tel: 01-6729004.