`A condition of complete simplicity," wrote T.S. Eliot in The Four Quartets "And all shall be well and/All manner of thing shall be well." In fashion, complete simplicity tends to remain an unrealised ideal; the temptation to embellish proves irresistible and detail is piled upon detail. And yet, the most perfect appearance is customarily the most simple: the unadorned sheath dress; the plain dark suit; the bias-cut slip. Adding to any of these diminishes their impact and confuses the eye.
In matters of dress, less is invariably more - more alluring, more powerful, more memorable. Regrettably, this is not a lesson yet learnt by many Irish women; in this country, the impulse to over-adorn is rarely held in check. An extra layer, a further item of clothing always tends to be added. Until they abandoned their traditional habits, the best-dressed people in Ireland tended to be members of religious orders. They wore one dark colour (relieved with smart touches of white) and strong, simple shapes usually made in hard-wearing fabrics. The result made an instant impact.
Not everyone need be a nun - or even dress like one - in order to look well-clothed. However, a lesson can be learnt from conventual costume: keep things simple. Coco Chanel, who inspired an almost religious devotion among her followers, once advised that before leaving the house, a woman should look at herself in a mirror and remove one item. That recommendation became easier to adopt during the present decade as fashion grew ever simpler, with emphasis increasingly placed on clean lines and a silhouette devoid of all fuss. Hence the rise in popularity of Ramsay of Dublin, a long-established Irish label with a distinct reliance on export sales which has achieved the tricky feat of reinventing itself.
The greatest share of credit for this act must go to Helen McAlinden, a Belfast woman who first started to work with Ramsay as a freelance consultant, went on to become the major shareholder and then owner of the company before selling it some 18 months ago to Baird's, the Northern Irish linen supplier. Today she is happy to revel in the title of designer. The essence of Ramsay style, as it now appears, lies in simplicity and the absence of all unnecessary decoration. "It's clean," is McAlinden's summary of her approach to design. "Our clothing is an attitude. It's laid-back, modern, not over-dressed and with no superfluous detail. It has touches of romanticism but only in a very understated, pared-down way; there's a certain softness, but simple." Ramsay as created by Helen McAlinden displays a certain American temperament; thanks to a belief in strong shapes and good fabrics, its spirit is more Narciso Rodriguez than Tommy Hilfiger.
But, like every American designer, McAlinden places great faith in the importance of good basics, such as a stretch-cotton T-shirt which Ramsay sells for around £40. In a variety of key colours and crew or V-neck, this item "is very much what we're about; you can wear it with a pair of jeans or combats but also with a suit. I think it's the best T-shirt you can buy."
T-shirts and combats are not the usual perception of Ramsay. A long history can be an impediment, particularly when changes of image are being attempted. In Irish shops - and therefore in the eyes of Irish shoppers, Ramsay has been seen as a mature, rather safe and possibly dull label. "We were badly merchandised," McAlinden explains. "Our good classic pieces were misinterpreted and made to look fuddy-duddy. I do believe in classics but in a strong, contemporary way."
These classics still abound at Ramsay: in lightweight wool suiting for the spring; in lightly-darted knee-length sleeveless shifts; and in understated shirting. But it finds a comfortable home with the label's newer pieces such as slouchy hipster pants, Nehru-collared covered-front jackets and satincrepe slip tops. Similarly, while the classic shades of the 1990s - black and navy blue - are well represented, they have been joined by more short-term fashionable colours including grey (in various permutations) and a cafe-au-lait. Reorienting an old company must be like trying to turn around a large ocean liner; it takes time and some exceptionally careful manoeuvring. "I'm really serious about what we want to do here," says McAlinden. "We're well-backed by Baird's and they're ambitious for us, but I don't think anyone before has ever turned an Irish clothing company into an international lifestyle business." She believes that for a fashion label to survive, production of clothes alone is no longer sufficient. To this end, new accessory lines are being introduced; leather bags and belts are already available, prototypes of footwear and jewellery have been produced. Like the clothing, these items tend to be characterised by clean lines and the avoidance of purposeless decoration.
"The more simple and pared-down something is, the more to my taste," McAlinden comments. "The mood of fashion has changed. In the late 1980s, it was hip to be seen spending money on clothes; now we've all got more careful. If I have to pay more than £300 for a jacket, I think very carefully about it. Pricing is important to us. We want to be accessible. We're never going to be inexpensive, but I do want us to be good value for money." Aspiring to keep things both simple and good value is a more substantial ambition than might first appear to be the case. Thanks to Helen McAlinden, the ambition has been realised and it now looks as though all shall be well at Ramsay in the years ahead.
Ramsay of Dublin clothes are available at stockists throughout Ireland including a newly-opened department in Brown Thomas, Dublin.