It's good to see a fashion show putting the clothes in their right setting as the Hudson Blue Club Look award show did on Tuesday evening. These were funky clothes for adventures in nightclub land and it was a relief to see the 12, ridiculously athletic models stomp rather than sashay along the catwalk in the Red Box nightclub. In the end, Aisling McLoughlin from NCAD took the top award with an outfit called "Cardiac" which included a rather nifty, heart-shaped jacket complete with aorta and bi-cuspid valve.
Designer Daryl Kerrigan made the trip back from New York to join fellow designer Marc O'Neill, photographer Barry McCall, John Reynolds of The Pod and stylist Paula Hughes on the judging panel. Daryl, an NCAD graduate is a one of Ireland's funkiest success stories - starting off with a few key items, the Daryl K label is now in many designer stores worldwide, and that's as well as her own two stores in New York.
Daryl has no business expansion plans for the near future, explaining: "I did a bit of personal expansion recently. . .". Just a month ago, she and her partner Paul Leonard had a baby, Fionn, who grabbed all the attention at the judges' lunch in the Conrad Hotel earlier in the day. Daryl met a gang of old friends at the awards including sculptor Cor- ban Walker, who was just back from a show of his own work in Chicago and designer Cyan Kingston.
Designer Marc O'Neill is also expanding - into uniform design. Not just any ol' blue serge uniforms these - he and menswear designer Cuan Hanley have been asked to design and supply the uniforms for the staff of the new Fitzwilliam Hotel. Dublin's latest schmart hotel, owned by Michael Holland and Brendan Gilmore (who also own Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links among others) is due open on Stephen's Green soon and will boast interior design by Terence Conran and food by Conrad Gallagher, who is moving his restaurant, Peacock Alley, into the hotel.