Fashion designer Paul Costelloe’s funeral Mass in Monkstown’s St Patrick’s Church was marked with the understated elegance he brought to his craft over the course of his long career.
The only flowers were an abundance of white roses among greenery that covered his coffin like a bower: family flowers in a ceremony that focused almost entirely upon his family life.
There were none of the now-customary gifts symbolising a life brought to the altar. The whole ceremony was simple and elemental: the sound of the wind from Storm Bram heard in between the robust singing from the Blackrock College Choir; the school Costelloe attended as a boy.
His six sons, William, Robert, Gavin, Justin, Paul-Emmet and Nicholas, carried his coffin into the church. His wife Anne, and daughter Jessica were the other chief mourners.
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The main celebrant was Canon Michael O’Dea, parish priest of St Simon’s Church in Putney, London, where the family have a home. Costelloe, one of the highest profile names in Irish and UK fashion, died at the age of 80 in London in November after a short illness.
In his homily, Canon O’Dea spoke of how, despite the glamorous world Costelloe worked in, designing for famous people and travelling the globe, it was his family who anchored him all his life.
“Paul was very much the reference point of the family,” he said. “Home was a very important place for him to relax and enjoy one another’s company, whether it was in Putney, or in Monkstown, or wherever it was.
“Paul was always proud of his children and grandchildren. They were the anchor of his life. He told me that ‘my family keep me grounded, especially Anne’.”
Canon O’Dea spoke of a man who enjoyed cycling around southwest London, and the simple things in life.
He also recalled the annual Christmas card he was personally given by Costelloe. “I’d wait for Christmas each year, because Paul would give me one of his hand-painted cards. It was something I treasured. There was another card at Easter. This was his own way of expressing his faith, through art.”
The front of the memorial card carried a watercolour drawing, by Costelloe, of a small boat close to a rocky shore. It was accompanied by his distinctive coiling signature, recognisable by anyone who has ever bought one of his homeware items in Dunnes Stores; the company with which he had a long and high-profile collaboration.
Costelloe’s son Justin, in his eulogy, said his father always made everyone feel welcome, and spoke of “his extraordinary talent that we were all extremely proud of”.
He recalled an engaged father, who took his sons to rugby matches, and his daughter to ballet classes. As for who was the boss of the household: “Anne was the only one who could put him back in his box. They loved each other deeply.”
After the Communion service, Jessica Costelloe made her way up the choir, high above the congregation. From there she sang a compelling version of Down By The Salley Gardens, lamentation style, in a voice that slowly swelled to fill the cavernous church, while the congregation below listened in astonished silence.
The President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, were represented by their aides-de-camp.
Burial took place privately afterwards.
