FESTIVAL WATCH/DUBLIN FASHION WEEK:Dublin Fashion Week is a bit of a misnomer for a three-day event, but never mind. It began yesterday and has its climax tomorrow night with its first-ever awards ceremony in CHQ on the city quays.
There will be awards in various categories, including designer of the year, international achievement and best newcomer, and Richard Lewis will receive a lifetime achievement award. The awards will be followed by a catwalk show, in which 12 Irish designers will present their autumn-winter 2008 collections. "This is an event for people who have an eye for fashion and enjoy the glamour of the fashion industry," says organiser Chris Pollock. "You can go to the show and then go into the shops and buy the clothes next day." Apart from the fashion show, Dublin Fashion week is primarily a trade event. Some 30 designers take a room each in the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel and show their spring 2009 collections to buyers, press and stylists. Tickets for the fashion show cost €75 from www.dublinfashionweek.com or from 01-6432801.
TODAY AND TOMORROW/THE BEST OF THE SUMMER
TODAY: Fiddler on the Roof starts at INEC, Killarney. Tickets: €27.50-€40. See www.inec.ie. Coverage of The Rose of Tralee competition continues on RTÉ1, from 8pm with Ray D'Arcy. Heritage Week events include A Talk on Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera Tinctoria, left) on Achill Island at Achill Sound Hotel at 8pm; and Eagles Flying (11am and 3pm all week) in the Irish Raptor Research Centre, Ballymote, Co Sligo. See www.heritageweek.ie
TOMORROW: Heritage Week events today include a Talk on The Irish People Transported to the Barbados By Cromwell in the 1650s, at Callan Workhouse, Co Kilkenny. There are talks on the local histories of Cabra and Phibsboro (Phibsboro LIbrary, 6.30pm, free) and Pembroke (Pembroke Library, Ballsbridge, 1.15pm, free). See www.heritageweek.ie. Dublin's IFI cinema screens the Irish War of Independence picture Shake Hands With the Devil with James Cagney as part of its Wild Strawberries series for older cinemagoers. 11am. www.ifi.ie