Only a handful wear hats at the opening of Philip Treacy's Unlikely Sculp- ture: Hatforms exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. It's probably their way of taking their hats off to the milliner.
Those in headgear include Natalie Cassidy from Sandymount, who wears a tall black trilby by the milliner himself (her mother, Mary Cassidy, is hatless, however). Belfast woman Fiona Burnes is wearing a furry baby-blue cap, and Noel Sheridan, director of the National College of Art and Design, is wearing a stone-coloured mafia-style hat, called a borcellino - although neither of these is by the designer. Mafra O'Reilly is elegant as ever in an outfit topped off by a little silver fox-fur hat. She chats to artists Campbell Bruce and Jackie Stanley (no hats on them).
Alexandra McGuinness, daughter of Paul (U2) McGuinness, owns a Philip Treacy hat, but tonight the white orchid creation is at home, she explains. Watch out for the unveiling of her own fashion creations, however, which will be on view at the Dun Laoghaire Theatre of Dance on Sunday, May 20th. Something Borrowed, Something Blue is a collection of 26 wedding dresses she has worked on.
Some of Treacy's family from Ahascragh in Co Galway are here too, waiting to welcome him home. His two older brothers, Seamus and and Sean Treacy, and their families wait in the foyer for a sight of him. There's a push forward when the famous hat designer finally arrives. Unlikely Sculpture runs at IMMA until Sunday, June 10th.