Material Intelligence: Meet the emerging designers from Ireland’s leading fashion colleges

NCAD graduates

Rooted in a rich heritage of craftsmanship, critical inquiry and cultural engagement, the fashion design students at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) are taught to embrace fashion’s textile and craft legacies whilst reinterpreting them for a new era.

Placing strong emphasis on research, collaboration and sustainability, the students there are encouraged to challenge convention, explore new narratives and to engage with emerging technologies whilst also maintaining a deep respect for craft and heritage in a dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation.

Clodagh Leavy

Winner of both the River Island and Brown Thomas/Arnotts awards, graduate designer Clodagh Leavy is certainly having a moment – winning a total of €7,500, a three-month paid internship at River Island in London and the opportunity to have her designs on display at Brown Thomas and Arnotts over the summer.

Inspired by her artist grandmother, Clodagh’s designs are beautiful and personal – characterised by a confident use of colour, texture and silhouette with hand-painted garments utilising luxurious deadstock fabrics. Her collection is designed to capture her grandmother’s vibrant personality and creative spirit – designs which impressed the judges of both competitions, which are based on valued relationships formed with NCAD over decades.

Joey Fanciulli

Irish/Italian designer Joey Fanciulli was also inspired by family, drawing on his love of baking for his delicious Proof is in the Pudding collection. Drawing on childhood memories of baking with his mother and grandmother, Joey draws parallels in his collection between the joy and mindfulness to be found in both baking and knitting and between baking and making both desserts and dresses. Sweet!

Ulviye Jarral

Designer Ulviye Jarral used her fashion collection to examine her identity by examining her Irish upbringing as a person with both Cypriot and Pakistani heritage. Ulviye’s collection brings in aspects of key clothing and textile traditions from the three cultures including Irish GAA jerseys and Communion dresses, traditional Pakistani and Cypriot clothing, and shirting common across all three cultures to create a collection that draws on tradition whilst being completely modern.

Michéal McInerney

A childhood spent in Ballyherragh on the Atlantic shores of Co. Clare was the inspiration for Michéal McInerney’s graduate collection. His Hag’s Head eveningwear collection is inspired by the legend of Hag’s Head. It tells of a witch who fell in love with Cú Chulainn – her love leading to her demise whereupon her body transformed the cliff face of Hag’s Head. Drawing on the influence of the landscape, culture and flora of the area in which he grew up, Michéal’s collection considers polarity, conflict and belonging in this captivating collection.

Elspeth Moloney

In another collection that pays homage to important people, Elspeth Moloney pays tribute to her sisters and her mother, exploring the unspoken bonds and communication between family members formed through shared moments and an intuitive understanding of each other.

Her collection features handcrafts traditionally practiced by women, such as crochet, embroidery and smocking, and explores the subtle yet powerful connections that sisters and women share through the layering of opposing textures, colours and silhouettes in her designs.

LSAD graduates

At Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD) the BA Fashion course is now divided into four pathways. Students reflect and respond to the changing face of the fashion industry and specialise in their final year. This year sees some 36 students graduating under this new format in specialities that include Collection Design, Applied Textiles, Technology for Fashion and Sustainability, allowing students to play to their strengths in an ever-evolving fashion landscape.

Alex Maksimovs (Technology for Fashion)

Alex Maksimovs’ ‘phygital’ collection Under His Eye was inspired by the corruption and unrest prevalent in modern society. Drawing inspiration from The Handmaid’s Tale, Alex explores the idea that, in the current climate, voicing an opinion, particularly on social media, has become increasingly complex and explores the struggle for open discussion and dialogue. The use of innovative digital software allowed Alex to hone his approach to pattern drafting and to minimise waste in this collection, which draws on the strong silhouettes of Margaret Atwood’s iconic figures.

Erin Urquhart (Applied Textiles)

Erin Urquhart’s collection The Red Thread is a heartfelt tribute to her mother’s constant, graceful presence. Her collection explores the idea that an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance and that, though it may stretch or tangle, it will never break. Drawing inspiration from the gardens at Kew from her time spent in London, Erin has created a sustainable collection of zero waste pieces, knitting her garments from deadstock in a collection designed to be a meditation on connection, resilience and beauty.

Peter Ronan (Collection Design)

Peter Ronan’s Magdalenian collection draws inspiration from Palaeolithic cave art. The name of his collection derives from the period of time in which these extraordinary early examples of human creativity were made. Handcrafted processes were key for Peter, who used challenging fabrics to work with, including chiffon and velvet, creating his own devoré patterns and innovative techniques of sewing. Surface texture and colour were vital to achieving the effect Peter sought when hand-dying his materials to achieve the exact colours of the minerals used by Palaeolithic artists in this tribute to the human need to survive and to be remembered but also to create beautiful things for purely aesthetic purposes.

Sarah Dowling (Sustainability)

There’s a lot of talk in Ireland at the moment about Irish-grown wool and about how the wool industry in Ireland can be revived. Focusing on these issues, designer Sarah Dowling utilised Galway Wool from native Irish sheep in her collection BÁINÍN, which examines the importance of relationships between farmers, wool scourers, spinners, designers and researchers in the production and elevation of this extraordinary eco-friendly yarn.

Sourcing traceable raw Galway wool from Caoirigh and traceable Irish yarn from Donegal Yarns, the designer also incorporated Irish-made end-of-roll linen by Ferguson’s into her collection, which employed low-emission hand processes such as knit, crochet and felting.

The NCAD Degree Show runs until Saturday, June 14 from 10am daily at the NCAD campus on Thomas Street, Dublin.

• NCAD images are by Seán Jackson.
• LSAD photos are by Deborah McDonagh.
• River Island photos are by Sasko Lazarov, Photocall Ireland.
• BT images are by Leon Farrell, Photocall Ireland.