As the inaugural Ireland Fashion Week gets underway, we check in with its Founder Ashley McDonnell.
Irish designers have long been a great source of national pride on the international stage – from pioneering designs to championing sustainability and ethical production and even leading some of the world’s biggest fashion houses e.g. Jonathan Anderson’s recent appointment as Artistic Director of Dior. It’s high time, some might say, that the Irish stages rose to meet them.
Some being Galway-woman Ashley McDonnell, a director at global luxury group PUIG, founder of the Tech Powered Luxury podcast and most recently, founder of the first ever Ireland Fashion Week.
From October 6th-10th, this inaugural event series will celebrate homegrown design like never before. With seven ambitious shows stretched island-wide and an array of well-known names from Paul Costello and Aoife McNamara to up-and-coming graduate designers including Anna Finnis and more, this series promises an expanse of unforgettable sartorial experiences.
“Personally, I hope the inaugural Ireland Fashion Week will really kick-start a movement that not just gives confidence, but also a network of support to Irish fashion designers to enable them to scale sustainably, using technology and their creativity to expand internationally,” McDonnell says.
The seeds for Ireland Fashion Week were sown in September of last year, when McDonnell hosted a ‘Live From Paris Fashion Week’ event at the Irish Embassy, showcasing eight Irish designers on the PFW schedule, alongside numerous Irish beauty, jewellery and design brands. “The excitement around the event was unprecedented, and it really showed that not only was there interest internationally for Irish design, but there was also a real hunger from Irish designers to expand internationally and make an impact outside of Ireland.”
McDonnell then announced the forthcoming Ireland Fashion Week in October 2024, for the following year, before getting to work on one more event to raise the profile of Irish design overseas. This became ‘Live From Abu Dhabi’ which took place in February, and featured over 15 Irish designers across fashion, jewellery, shoes, accessories and beauty in one glamorous showcase.
The advantage McDonnell has over the likes of Paris, Copenhagen or New York is that Ireland Fashion Week has no preceding legacy. Instead, it must create its own. “Normally, an international fashion week is very precise in what it wants to deliver,” she asserts. “But because this is the first major fashion week on the island, we want to make sure it’s as accessible as possible for designers. Therefore, we decided that this would be a season-less fashion week, and that it would be open to both menswear and womenswear.”
Looking to the future she adds, “Perhaps we’ll get to a point where we’re able to do multiple fashion weeks a year, but for now, I think having one strong week with seven incredible shows and being really focused on execution is the way for us to have the biggest impact for designers – and for the reputation of Irish fashion as a whole.”
When thinking about the kind of legacy she wants to create, the key for McDonnell is funding. “We created a tech fund worth over €7.5 million to distribute across all of the designers who are onboarded, giving them the tools to scale their businesses sustainability, with help on everything from trend-forecasting to sizing, production and communication. This is how we are actually able to give designers the tools.”
“Yes,” she continues. “Being featured in shows during fashion week is really important – having that experience and that visual moment – but at the end of the day, it’s having a really robust business plan and a vision that’s actually going to give designers the help that they need to grow moving forward.”
Another passion-fuelled aspect of the programme, for this founder, is its geographical spread. “Strategically, we’ve decided to align ourselves with locations, venues and partners that will bring [a] magical experience to our international guests, and make sure that when they come to Ireland, they are able to leave with a lot more than having just visited Dublin. They’ll have perhaps experienced the likes of Connemara and our beautiful coastlines…” Plus, she adds, “the designers who are being featured are from the entire country… and it’s not always the city that draws the most inspiration. [Designers] also really lean into the Irish landscapes, heritage, nature, the fauna.”
In a similar vein, McDonnell hopes that a wide range of people will be able to witness the magic of this momentous week. To achieve this, while balancing costs and industry priorities for the designers showcased, the team will be doing re-runs of shows where possible – and venue-permitting – to ensure that those outside of the industry can still soak up the wonder of these once-off events.
Sartorial spectacles aside, McDonnell also forewarns that the artistic transformation of each event venue will be a feast for the senses in itself. “It’s going to be like something that’s never been seen before,” she beams. “Even when I’m looking at the mood boards and plans in terms of production, I’m so excited. I just can’t wait to get to attend, hopefully as many shows as possible myself, even it’s from behind the scenes.”
Words: Emer Tyrrell
Ireland Fashion Week takes place from October 6th to 10th. For further information on events and ticketing see @irelandfashionweek on socials.
