In fashion circles there is a surge of activity: autumn collections are arriving and the Kilkenny Shop and A-Wear have been quick off the mark.
Although very different, there seems to be agreement that some colour is good, styles are simple and, amazingly, a suggestion of Irishness is a possibility (brilliant tweeds are around). The clothes are attractive in both cases, a blending of town and country, a touch of individuality, and it is now all right to look feminine.
Kilkenny has a talented new designer in Mary Donoghue, designing the in-house Art of Dressing range. She went to the NCAD in Dublin and the Royal College of Art in London and has worked on her own collections for the last five years. Her style, using very good-quality leathers, suedes, silks and cashmeres, will not date too quickly. Colours are mostly chocolate and cream, but there are many bright splashes as well.
Favourites on the catwalk were a long camel cashmere (blend) coat (£285), a cream ribbed wool cashmere sweater (£54.95) and wide-legged Alpaca trousers (£99). Classic clothes like this are adaptable. The trousers look just as good with a herringbone jacket, the sweater with a wool silk skirt (£69) and the coat with everything. Suedes and leathers are definitely the backbone of the autumn look.
Another new name here is Iranian-born Irish-educated Ali Malek. His is a fresh approach to the Irish thing: very modern. Black and white excites him and, with its close fit and jaunty style, it has a lot of class.
Mary and Ali join the long list of Irish designers stocked at Kilkenny. Lainey's knits are as marvellous as ever, huge red ruched coats, for instance, and Ramsay and Louise Kennedy are spot on. Pat McCarthy does for men what they do for women, i.e. makes 'em look good.
A-Wear is traditionally for the young with a mean disposable income and a long list of wants. They will not be disappointed. A leather biker's jacket (£120), an animal print top (£30) and suede trousers £40) are tempting. The styles could have their roots in the 1960s (bouffant hairstyles at the show enforcing this feeling).
Fabrics are pretty: georgette, lace, snakeskin stretch and lots of leather. Gorgeous evening wear, cut on the bias and strewn with diamante (£50) would pass anywhere. College girl (American campus style) prevails with tiny plaid skirts, polo sweaters and trench coats, and here colours are bright. (Sweaters £18, skirts £26 and a tie-belted trench coat, £80.)
It is not all fluffy sweaters, of course. Some of the animal prints and snakeskin second-skin trousers are sexy: lizard trews (£30) with a lurex top (£12) are surely what everyone aspires to at some time - and here they are. In fact, between the two shows a lot of what is wanted was seen.
So far so good.