A collection inspired by the Jeffrey Eugenides novel The Virgin Suicides has earned fashion graduate Éadaoin Ní Drisceoil from Fermoy, Co Cork, a bursary of €10,000 and a six-month work placement in Paris with designer Sharon Wauchob.
The award was presented by Wauchob, who attended the Limerick School of Art & Design graduate fashion show this week. A selection from her current collection closed the show. Ní Drisceoil, whose all-pink collection subverted conventional ideas of prettiness, said: “I can’t believe it. It’s like winning the lottery.” She will start her internship immediately.
There were 27 final-year students showing their collections at the Milk Market where more than 500 people attended the event sponsored by Bord Gáis under a circus-like canopy.
Much of the student design showed the influence of their work placements, such as the gothic black gowns of Ann Dilleen, who interned with Gareth Pugh, and the soft embellished shapes of Emma McKay, who worked with Sorcha O’Raghallaigh in London.
Though black dominated many of the collections, a feeling for decorative detailing – ruching, draping, embroidery – was present in most.
Among the many collections that stood out were those from Orla Doyle, Maisie Kate Keane, Nicola Flynn, Clare O Toole and Olga Profutkina.
Ruth Doyle’s long Grecian gowns won the AIB award of €2,500 for the most commercial collection, while the zany, blown-out shapes in African prints earned Caroline Martin the Bord Gáis award of €2,500 for most imaginative use of fabric.
