Elegant winter daywear to the fore at Brown Thomas show

Brown Thomas kicked off the winter fashion season yesterday with a stylish show in the store's new accessories area, part of a €9 million development on the ground floor which will be completed in November.

Shelly Corkery, fashion director, in a simple black and white Valentino dress, set the tone of the presentation which concentrated on elegant daywear, particularly coats, from more than 24 international brands.

“We bought heavily into outerwear and luxury knitwear in nearly every collection which will resonate with customers,” she said.

Grey and black predominated from the handsome waisted and flared coats of Dior and lean, linear shapes of Céline to the more casual blankets and capes at The Row and Chloé. Stella McCartney’s rounded shoulderline was typical while Dries Van Noten cocooned his oversize coats in silver brocade or in pink and grey optic prints, and Carven in bold check tweed. Victoria Beckham’s winter white ensembles will be easily recognisable. Their gilt chain embellishments form a recurring motif as do the brass buttons on McQueen’s sharp, square-shouldered jackets.

Black leather shorts and masculine pinstripes featured in Saint Laurent, though the foxy leather hot pants of Moschino sounded an oddly discordant note in an otherwise powerful line-up. The shearling gilet (Preen, Alexander Wang) will be a strong winter trend.

Elsewhere, knits were textured and loose rather than tight and defined; trousers were sleek and narrow, all the better to display stilettos, heavy platform sandals or Chelsea boots.

As for bags, they formed the centrepiece of the show area displayed like art objects and their colours mirrored those of the collections – mostly black and grey along with green, oxblood and metallics.

The overall look generally was one of feminine assurance and polish with occasional flirtiness in hourglass tweeds of Dior, the jewelled brocades of Dolce & Gabbana and the sexy black dresses with mesh insets from Stella McCartney.

The show was styled by Darren Feeney.

No prices were given.