Sy's designs make 'em sigh

On the Town: This first solo fashion show for Synan O'Mahony was "a little piece of history", said broadcaster Lorraine Keane…

On the Town: This first solo fashion show for Synan O'Mahony was "a little piece of history", said broadcaster Lorraine Keane, who opened the show in the Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin, this week

"Sy is fabulous," she announced. "He never, ever fails to impress. He's been a saviour of my wardrobe on many an occassion."

The show, which featured 45 gowns, aimed to raise money for the Marie Keating Foundation. The cancer awareness charity has seen 40,000 women and referred more than 2,000 since it was established in 1998.

Before the show, the Limerick-born designer greeted friends and family, including his father Jack O'Mahony, who worked in the rag trade for 30 years, and his mother Mary, who is a seamstress.

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Mary Carroll from Rathcabbin, Co Tipperary, a fashion design student at the Abbeyleix Further Education Centre, said O'Mahony's designs "are always quite elegant and unique".

Model and Fair City actor Orlaith Rafter, who was there with her mother, Greta Rafter, said O'Mahony's gowns are "always so ultra-feminine. It's really a celebration of curves. He cuts for the way women are shaped. He doesn't try to hide anything and he celebrates colour also. A lot of designers don't".

His gowns "are gorgeous", said Deirdre O'Kane, who was there with her husband, director Stephen Bradley. His film, Boy Eats Girl, a comedy-horror with Samantha Mumba and David Leon, is currently in post-production, he said.

Also at the show were Georgina Ahern, who wore a Synan O'Mahony creation on her wedding day last year in France; Yvonne Keating, wife of singer Ronan Keating - who set up the Marie Keating Foundation with his family in memory of their mother; RTÉ Radio 1 broadcaster Maxi; and Laura Allman, the designer's aunt, who came with her granddaughter, Rebecca Clarke.