Irish crochet queen Róisín Pierce, the only Irish designer on the official Paris Fashion Week schedule, presented her latest collection, her sixth, at the Irish Embassy in Paris on Friday. Called “Nothing Pure Can Stay”, it is the second time she has shown in the Embassy, following her last 21-piece collection “O Lovely One” which marked her growing international reputation and endorsement by Comme des Garcons, the luxury fashion brand founded by Rei Kawakubo at their Dover Street Market in Paris.
Her success continues to highlight the craftsmanship of Irish crochet and lace, a rich heritage with underlying historical associations, which Pierce has described as “visual symbols of deeper messages”. With this collection, she collaborated with the celebrated British milliner Stephen Jones (whose work is the subject of a current exhibition in Paris at the Palais Galliera) and Polene, a young French brand fast becoming known for the exacting craftsmanship and quality of its leather handbags. “I love her work,” Jones said after the show, explaining that Adrian Joffe of Comme des Garcons had put them together.
Drawing inspiration from William Bentley’s vast collection of snowflake photographs, “each crystal a masterpiece of design”, each of Pierce’s 30 willowy and ornate ensembles was breathtaking in workmanship and design created by the manipulations of many techniques – feathered tulles, embroidered snowberries, crushed silks, smocked ruffles, crocheted cocoons and pintucking. Even describing them illustrates their complexities as the designer continues to push the boundaries of her craft.
One fragile dress, floor-length and sheer, was composed solely of black crochet medallions, while others, in inky blue cotton and silk velvet, had their own dramatic and textured silhouettes. Apart from navy and black, it was mostly her signature white palette. There was so much detail, but the overall effect was one of dreamy lightness of touch and spellbinding beauty. The intricacy of the handwork created its own shapes, but there were also jackets with oversized sleeves, “mountain” trousers cascading with silk tulle and “death” gowns swirling with pintucks and tulle petals.
The accessories, handbag spheres with handstitched bows and buttons (which will go on sale in Polene Champs Elysees and online) and Jones’s headwear composed of delicate white halos and coronets looped with ribbons harmonised with the collection’s “dreamlike sweetness”.
In her accompanying notes, the designer referenced authors and poets Vladimir Nabokov and Silvia Plath arguing for the importance of appreciating the ephemera of transient beauty. “Fingers that trace the contours of forget me not embroidery ... will falter, but the garments will endure. Thread and cloth are the heirloom, the wearer a guardian”.
