Clothes lines

Compiled by DEIRDRE McQUILLAN

Boutique of the week

Kalu in Naas, Co Kildare, with its luxurious chandeliered interior, is a destination shop for stylish racegoers. It is located four kilometres from Punchestown and 10 from the Curragh. Louise Flanagan set up the shop with Kate O’Dwyer 15 years ago this month. Most of Kalu’s bestselling labels, such as Nicole Farhi, Jenny Packham and Giles Deacon, are from the UK, but Irish knitters including Lucy Downes of Sphere One and Róisín Linnane are also favourites. Casualwear and jeans are especially chosen to flatter, and accessories include hats by Stephen Jones, shoes by Emma Hope and jewellery by Melissa Curry. Flanagan laments that women dress for the races as if for a wedding, in “little dresses, high heels and feathers” rather than in “a really good coat and hat”. Two pieces selected by her as current standouts are a tobacco and feather-print cotton dress by Vivienne Westwood (€280) and a red silk crepe fitted peplum jacket by Giles Deacon – but at €1,200 you’d need to back a winner for that one.

Kalu, 16 South Main Street, Naas, Co Kildare

The cool blue cotton scarf €95 is from a new Irish knitwear label called EssenC set up by Limerick School of Art Design graduate Sinéad Clarke, who cut her teeth working for Missoni in Milan after winning International Student Designer of the Year in 2006. Designing and making in Ireland, initially from her studio in Co Cavan, she has now moved to Dublin and this item is from her spring/summer cotton collection at Project 51, South William St. For winter she’s using merino (which many prefer to cashmere) for cardigans, coats and accessories.

Tribal theme from Hilfiger

The new Promise collection from Tommy Hilfiger is really terrific, not just for its bright, African-inspired patterns and textiles, but because 100 per cent of the proceeds will be donated to Millennium Promise’s villages in Africa. That organisation’s goal is to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

The limited collection, with its distinctive African vibe, features 13 pieces for men and 17 for women, in shapes to suit Western tastes. There’s a soft blue and white maxi dress, spotted indigo and white shorts, zig zag rust and black striped skirts, various T-shirts and beaded tunics, and some lovely scarves and belts. The menswear is good, too, and prices range from €44 for the scarves up to €139 for a maxi dress.

All about legs

When it comes to hosiery, the selection in Dublin is usually not as varied as say, London or Paris. It's almost impossible, for instance, to get white, grey or stone in the heavier deniers, so it was a delight to find 2ndskin in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, which opened a few weeks ago and has an impressive selection of tights, stockings, leggings, bodies, plus sizes and shapewear. Familiar brands include Wolford and Falke, alongside lesser known (in Ireland anyway) labels such as Gatta and Fiore, at affordable prices. See 2ndskin.ie