Sugar and spice

It's Communion time and a special day calls for a special dress. These styles come with the royal stamp of approval. DEIRDRE MCQUILLANmeets the designer

IT WAS THE gig of the century,” sighs Nicki McFarlane, remembering the call in January last year that changed her life. It was from Kate Middleton asking her to make the four bridesmaids dresses for her royal wedding. This was followed by meetings with the Duchess of Cambridge “who came to every fitting for the children and had very clear ideas of what she wanted, something unfussy and sophisticated”, recalls McFarlane. The ballerina-length dresses that had to be made in the strictest secrecy at her home in Wiltshire were in silk satin gazar layered over organza and wild silk and trimmed with lace and gold sashes.

When McFarlane, who says she’s been making bespoke children’s clothes “for ever and ever”, was asked in 2005 by a client to design bridesmaids dresses for 22 children aged from 18 months to four years, she finally launched a ready-to-wear label in February 2010.

The knock-on effect of the royal wedding created demand from all over the world and “within a year we went from zero to 46 stockists”, McFarlane says, adding that she has just supplied Bergdorf Goodman in New York with their first delivery. Today, the British designer will appear in Arnotts with her daughter Charlotte, former MD of Lulu Guinness, who looks after the wholesale side of the business, to host a “Designer Day” and introduce her new Holy Communion dress range to Ireland.

The dresses are pretty, elegant and romantic. Made in luxury materials such as taffeta, silk, organza and georgette and technically faultless, they are free of superfluous decoration or embellishment. “We want each dress to look special. It’s important that it’s not just another dress – there is lots of piping and full petticoats and it’s all in the detail. It might look very simple, but it is very hard to get it right. It’s never fussy,” she says.

Anna Connolly, childrenswear buyers for Arnotts, says McFarlane’s dresses have a timeless, classic look. “So many Holy Communion dresses look like wedding dresses cut down. These dresses are pretty and girly and have a timeless quality. In Ireland, kids are often dressed in a grown-up way, but I think that’s changing and becoming more traditional,” she says. Arnotts will be stocking six styles at prices from €280 to €325 in ivory and white. The store will also have the same little satin pumps by Rainbow Club worn at the royal wedding.

McFarlane says that what’s interesting about Communion and bridesmaids dresses is that children often come in with certain perceptions about what they want to wear, but when they try on something completely different such as full skirts without flashy bows and frills – more age appropriate – “they love it. They go for the fairytale every time”, she says.

The market for communion wear in Ireland is said to be worth around €57 million, according to a survey last June and it represents about 50 per cent of Arnotts’ childrenswear sales business in January and February.

“People are willing to part with up to €300-€400 on an outfit for girls – it’s like a wedding – but the recession has made them more conscious of what they are spending and they want quality. These dresses can be passed down the same as uniforms,” says Connolly.

Rites of passage such as Communions have recently been marked in Ireland by sartorial excess; by fake tans and flashy accessories, but the trend for frothy frocks may be on the wane. McFarlane is trying to bring in more sculptural shapes that complement existing styles. She is introducing a new range called Swan for teenage bridesmaids aged 12-18, in dress sizes 6-16 that are grown up in style, but complement the Cygnets range of smaller dresses for flower girls that would suit communicants up to 12 years.

The key to her success, she says, is her passion for her work. “I don’t regard myself as a designer, but as someone who interprets a client’s personal style, so I have to listen to them to get it right and they have to be really thrilled about what they are wearing. What sets Charlotte and I apart is that we put our heart and soul into everything we make and regard our stockists as our friends.”