Marc O'Neill

For the past three years, Marc O'Neill has been selling his clothes through A Wear while starting to develop a market in England. Still only 27, even while an undergraduate at NCAD he attracted attention thanks to his well-honed tailoring skills. These are in evidence once again for next spring/summer with hip-length, notch-collared jackets teaming up with either low-waisted pencil skirts or narrow-leg pants. Then there are darted, mannish shirts with big collars - very typical of O'Neill - panelled T-shirts, body-hugging jersey dresses and fitted, raglan-sleeve knits. Fabrics for the season ahead include devore jersey, honeycomb cotton, soft linen, fine twill wool crepe, stretch denim and both plain and striped cotton shirting. The colour palette runs from shot ink blue and French navy to camel and sheer white, by way of bleached terracotta, stone and indigo. A canny designer with keen awareness of his market, O'Neill looks likely to increase his customer base with this range.