"We try to offer something for everybody" said Ms Ashling Kilduff, director of The Design Centre, before the store's Autumn/Winter fashion show at City Hall last night.
Sponsored by Wella in aid of the Simon Community, the clothes show satisfied many tastes: a reflection of a market that facilitates the remarkable and the bland.
This season The Design Centre has taken on three new designers - Joanne Hynes, Rachael Mackay and Róisín Linnane.
Although many of the ideas were simple, Joanne Hynes's clothes are perhaps the most visually interesting of the three newcomers - a black and white checkerboard coat or a pleated crinoline and jersey dress with silk neckpiece. They are clothes for those who appreciate the subtlety of a black silk jersey dress with a chiffon wing at the back. Nothing overdone and nothing over designed. Perhaps not easy for every woman to wear but a good departure for The Design Centre.
Rachael Mackay worked black and plum, the two main colours in her collection, with great competence. While there was a lot of black from other designers in the show, it sometimes looked flat elsewhere. Mackay lifted coats with the texture of boule wool and jackets with low piping.
Róisín Linnane, the third of the new designers, uses fashion's current gothic look, albeit a little watered down, to contrast romantic chiffon floral shirts. Nothing too exciting but fashionable enough to find a ready clientele.
Another young designer, but one who has been in The Design Centre for two seasons, is Helen Cody. The clothes she showed were among the strongest.
A chocolate brown cashmere coat with a high button was finished with a crossover belt that stretched over the shoulder. Her clothes took many influences - a Spanish shawl coat, a Marni-esque coat with shredded overlay, a vintage-looking lace slip - but was held together by the "desire factor" - these were luxury clothes that many women will really like.
Louise Kennedy's clothes have a strong identity and she knows exactly who she is dressing. If you're one of them, you won't be disappointed. A black and white 'Gabrielle' coat was worn with a white cotton ruffle shirt and black stretch trousers. They might not be the most exciting of clothes but Kennedy isn't trying to be avant garde.
John Rocha continues to mix a craft element into modern designs, such as a coral long-sleeve top with woven circle insert. Black and cream were the colours that dominated and they worked as well as ever on knitted robes and patch dresses. Particularly beautiful was a taffeta hand-painted skirt.
Also shown were hats by Philip Treacy - not the fantasy variety but ones that could be worn practically. Other good pieces could be found in the collections of Miriam Mone, Róisín Gartland and Helen McAlinden.