“The way in which women dress is changing,” says Helen Wheeler, designer with Lynda Heather of Naya, one of the biggest Irish brands. “It’s more about comfort and easy elegance than structured tailoring,” she adds.
Naya’s latest collection, its biggest to date, boasts nearly 200 pieces that come in sizes from 8 up to 22, aiming to cater for all body shapes.
The formula, which has been working successfully for more than a decade, puts a firm focus on ease and layering in soft, supple fabrics, with best-sellers including jersey shifts, long-line parkas and cuffed travel trousers, the last of these still a firm favourite and regularly reprised in different fabrics or colours.
“These basic shapes allow the layering of fabrics or placement prints in different textures,” says Wheeler.
A standout trio is a pair of black jersey trousers with a sporty white go-faster stripe teamed with a sleeveless lightweight parka and a mesh sleeved top. Another winner is a soft navy jersey below-the-knee dress with tapered hemline: “One of our staple pieces,” says Wheeler.
The look is fundamentally relaxed but does include a few more tailored pieces, such as a single-buttoned waistcoat with wide-leg trousers in a pale crinkle fabric and a double-breasted suit in charcoal grey with tailored jacket and wide-leg trousers, “which are not too long so they can be worn with runners”. All are interchangeable. Wide-leg trousers are a recurring motif, and long dresses are cleverly cut asymmetrically for a better fit.
In the new collection, dipped hemlines, hooded jackets and longline waistcoats are the main design features, with tunic dresses more prevalent for spring.
Wheeler usually test-drives each piece before it goes into production “and I always come back to ease: softer pieces rather than tailored looks”, she says. Though Wheeler and Heather travel to trade and fabric fairs to study trends and colours, “we always try to try to do things our way, keeping what customers want in mind. We are already working on spring-summer 2026, so it’s very fast”.
At affordable prices from €62 for a typical placement print top up to €200 for a parka, the idea is that customers can wear any of the pieces in different ways, so versatility is key when it comes to layering these relaxed silhouettes.
Stockists include Nina’s Boutique, Trim, Co Meath; Eclipse, Sandymount, Dublin; Jenny’s Boutique, Ashbourne and Dunshaughlin, Co Meath; Lisa Baker, Castleknock, Dublin, and Nenagh, Co Tipperary; Rocco, Clontarf, Dublin; Paula’s Malahide, Dublin; The Fashion Shop, Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Hehirs, Clifden, Co Galway; Sheena’s, Cork; Deirdre Biggins, Ballinrobe, Co Mayo; McElhinneys, Ballybofey, Co Donegal; Jude Law Boutique, Magherafelt, Co Derry; Joli, Ballyclare, Co Antrim; Winsome Lady, Ballymoney, Co Antrim. Naya is not sold online, but is exported to Canada, the US, Switzerland, UK, Scotland and Italy. Contact info@chasefashions.ie
Photography: Ian McDevitt; model: Phoebe @Morgan; styling: Anne O’Shea; make-up: Ruth Kinsella; hair: Nadine Walsh
