Clothes lines

Compiled by DEIRDRE McQUILLAN

Bow & Pearl, Ranelagh

Bronagh O'Sullivan opened her chic little boutique Bow Pearl (the name inspired by her love of vintage) two years ago beside the Luas in Ranelagh and this weekend she launches its website, bowandpearl.com. Her typical customer is – like O'Sullivan – in her 30s, may be getting engaged, married or having her first baby. Dresses are her best sellers and they tend to be feminine, "but not too girly or too flouncy", she says.

Her inspiration is mainly drawn from London markets and New York. O’Sullivan has a good eye for dresses and one of her best-selling labels is Louche (check out the Little Mi floral for €75) and jewellery such as the coloured tear drop earrings for €38 that many customers love to buy as presents.

Bow Pearl, 13 Main Street, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Tel: 01-4967408

Two-tone warmer

This sleek boyfriend cardigan by Lucy Downes’ Sphere One label is just the thing for chilly summer evenings or for travelling. Called the “Swoon”, it’s a V-neck two tone in orange/pink 100 per cent pima cotton and costs €210 in Brown Thomas. Havana in Donnybrook has the same style in two tones of khaki. A longer version, with contrast pockets and collar trim in a cashmere, silk and wool blend is €335 in Juju in Greystones. A fluorescent yellow version in pima cotton is €225 in Clothes Peg, Sutton Cross, Sutton, with a similar version in grey also available in Brown Thomas.

Weaving a spell

Brendan Madden is a talented young weaver with a small studio across the road from the Dylan Hotel in Dublin, whose beautiful scarves have attracted much attention from hotel guests and passersby. Working in yarns from cotton and linen to silk, satin, cashmere and mink on the label Brendan Joseph, he originally studied graphics in NCAD, but moved to weaving, preferring the challenge of tactile fabrics. He makes his own looms and, as a volunteer in Haiti, made a rudimentary one from salvage to show orphans how it worked. His scarves come in natural colours based on water and light, spiked with silver, pink and red – and future plans are to travel to Nepal to test an innovative laptop loom which he has designed and hopes to put into production. This scarf, handwoven from 3.9 million stitches of silk and linen, is €350. Brendan Madden, 12 Eastmoreland Place, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, tel: 01-212 0985, 086-384 1722