| Fronting affordable fashion Irish
designers are at the forefront of world fashion. Claudia Redmond talks
to one of the Emerald Isle’s brightest stars Ciaran McSweeney who not
only designs affordable fashions for every type of person but has also
branched out into interiors.
 The Christmas
rush is over; you’ve survived the New Year’s Eve party and
already broken your first of many resolutions.
Time to cheer yourself up and start the year as you mean to continue with
something gorgeous in your wardrobe to admire, stroke and occasionally
wear.
There are so many designers flaunting their wares at us — New York,
Paris, London and Dublin. Ireland has produced some fantastic home-grown
talent and Ciaran Sweeney is an emerging star of the fashion scene as
one of Europe’s most innovative young artists and designers.
He is known for his trademark floor-sweeping gowns; hand-painted and printed
fabrics and evening coats in silk velvets and satins.
Born in 1971 in Drogheda in Co. Louth — his dad was a poet and mum
a teacher. His family moved around when he was a child and from the age
of 12 to 15 he lived in West Cork, an area full of artists and sculptors
and New Age people that he claims triggered the designer in him.
He says: “Going from Drogheda to West Cork at that time was like
going from Ballymun to Bali.”
He went on to study at the National College of Art and Design where he
trained as an art teacher specialising in textiles.
Ciaran continues: “I knew I had to get into art college. But the
only way I could do it was to train as an art teacher as it was considered
a proper job.
“I designed and sold my work while in college and continued after
starting with small shops and then selling to big ones like Brown Thomas,
Liberty and Harrods.”
Ciaran is in good company in Ireland at the moment and he admires many
Irish designers for different reasons.
“Paul Costello in business, Lainey for her creativity, John Rocha
for resilience, Louise Kennedy for her branding; I admire them all and
I also admire the young breed Antonia Cambell Hughes, Pauiric Sweeny,
Ali Malek.
“I think people don’t quite appreciate the characters in the
industry but that is not what it is all about I suppose.”
He believes young aspiring designers should be hungry, “stick with
it” and try to be themselves. Ireland is not quite the capital of
the fashion map.
“It would be nice to think it is but realistically, globally no.
This is not to say there is not a lot of talent here.”
Actress Brenda Blethyn, Moya Brennan, Enya Clannad, Mary McAleese and
Lisa Stansfield are among his clients as well as corporate clients including
Guinness, Universal Music International and Nokia. And the good news for
all us girls with a ‘normal’ figure with child-bearing hips?
You don’t have to be wafer-thin like Kate Moss to wear his gorgeous
creations.
“I design for real people. I have designed for people from four
to 84. Models are beautiful but they are a method of showing your work
to clients. A good model will allow the customer to see herself in the
garment; with a bad model all you see is the model.”
For the fashionatti on the catwalk and red carpet his views are varied.
From high praise for Indiana Jones temptress Alison Doody and “her
old-fashioned glamour” to Posh Spice Victoria Beckham, whom he dismisses
as “more of a fashion disaster than icon” that takes the whole
scene a bit too literally.
Art is Ciaran’s passion and the Medici Tomb in Florence is his favourite
sculpture.
“I love it. It has everything; beauty, masculinity, femininity,
sexuality, texture strength and softness, and is the essence of renaissance
sculpture.”
In fact many of his creations look like they would be at home in a Renaissance
painting.
Like many designers Ciaran has branched into home interiors, with a hand-printed
silk velvet devore swan throw that would not look out of place in the
Hollywood hills and sumptious cushions with colours such as raspberry
and lipstick that are yummy enough to eat. It has culminated in a period
of the last two years where things have gone from strength to strength.
At Showcase 2004 — the biggest showcase of Irish design, funded
by Crafts Council and Enterprise Ireland — Ciaran won the Overall
Winner in the Best New Product category. Since then he has started to
travel with his work: Britain, US and the Middle East while having an
agent in Dubai and New York.
The future is certainly looking bright for Mr Sweeney. And his top tip
for all you dedicated followers of fashion for 2006?
“Old accessories and old tailoring.”
You heard it here first.
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