A New LifeAva Cassidy was not always as fashion conscious as she is now, writes Danielle Barron
An innate sense of style is something only a small fraction of people possess and I, for one, am constantly envious of those who have it. So being friends with fashion designer Ava Cassidy during those awkward teenage years must surely have meant a constant attack of the green-eyed monster?
According to Cassidy, it was quite the opposite.
"I definitely wasn't that cool or trendy in school," she admits. "I didn't pay much attention to catwalk fashions, but I suppose I was always interested in how clothes went together and good quality fabric as my mum would have always made things for me and my sisters, such as our communion dresses."
Most people who study arts in college do so because the general nature of the degree means that it can apply to almost any future employment.
Having studied a combination of English and information studies, Cassidy's options were left wide open. "I had initially thought about doing architecture and interior design and things like that but I ended up studying those subjects in UCD as I really didn't have a notion of what I wanted to do."
After graduating with an honours degree, Cassidy began working in a recruitment agency that dealt with banking and finance recruitment. There, her responsibilities included interviewing candidates and liaising with companies in order to match the right people to jobs.
Although she admits that she "sort of fell into it", she also says that, at the time, she sensibly recognised it as a career that offered scope for future progression up the career ladder.
"I started with the idea that I'd eventually get into it and enjoy it but once I was there for a while I realised it wasn't where my heart lay. I knew that, to be happy, I'd really have to cut my losses and start again."
Having worked in the agency for a couple of years, Cassidy's next career move was a sideways step, as she eventually decided to enrol ian evening course in fashion design in the Grafton Academy. She immediately loved it but having finally found something that fascinated her, her only problem was one of frustration.
"I really enjoyed it but I found it a bit slow as I was only doing a couple of hours twice a week."
The diploma can be studied over a flexible time period and it eventually took Cassidy two and a half years to complete.
Cassidy then took another step towards her future career by leaving the recruitment agency to work in a clothes shop for several months to obtain some valuable retail experience. She also took on freelance work as a stylist, styling photo shoots for television advertisements, as well as magazines such as Women's Way, while still continuing to design and sew one-off fashion pieces for family and friends.
It was in the Grafton Academy that she met Kate Reilly and, after completing the course, the friends decided to work together to produce pieces for the Cow's Lane Fashion Market in Temple Bar on Saturdays.
The funny thing is that they originally had quite contrasting tastes in fashion, says Cassidy. "When we were studying, our collections were very different. It was only as we progressed through the course that they started to become more similar and we started to like each other's collections a lot more."
Cassidy says that the six months they spent designing and making pieces for the market showed them that they worked well together, with their different styles complementing each other on the finished products that flew off their busy stall.
As everything was handmade, however, the obvious constraints to their production capacity meant that many potential customers at the market were disappointed. "People would love something but we wouldn't have the right sizes for them, and they were always asking where we were stocked," she says.
"A year ago we realised we'd have to expand and treat it like a business, rather than a part-time job, which is what we had been doing."
A fellow stall-owner at the market encouraged Cassidy and Reilly to visit a fabric fair in Paris called Premier Vision and make contact with manufacturers, so that they could outsource some of the work they had been doing themselves.
They also began to look for shops that would stock their designs.
"Making all our clothes by hand meant the prices were quite high and they weren't reflected by where we were selling them; it was outside and there were no changing rooms so we couldn't really justify it," admits Cassidy.
The Dublin City Enterprise Board provided Cassidy and Reilly with a mentor, who helped them come up with a business plan. Their label, kateandava, is now firmly established in Irish fashion circles and the duo showcased their forthcoming spring/summer 2007 collection at the Dublin Fashion Week in September, with their current autumn/winter collection now stocked in various boutiques.
Although Cassidy admits it has been a struggle, she says she's finally found her niche.
"I wanted to work at something that I would do for nothing and that I would do regardless of how much I got paid or what kind of career it would give me.
"At the moment it's still early days and it's been quite stressful but the rewards are huge. When somebody says they love the clothes or a shop places a big order, it makes it all worthwhile," she says.