Irish student lights up the fashion scene

Winner of the Future Fashion Design Award 2017 at this year’s Festival of Curiosity last week was Ally Nolan, whose collection was titled The Queen of the Night after an exotic short-lived flower that only blooms at night.

Fashion and science came together for this event in which six emerging and established young fashion designers were mentored in the Curiosity Studios’ design and research residency programme for two months to explore how new technologies can be integrated into fashion design.

Nolan’s mix of old and new technology was light years ahead literally – LED lighting being the common thread uniting the six talented contestants. Her floor-skimming red skirt, composed of 800 laser-cut and handsewn petals in neoprene – synthetic rubber – with an illuminated LED skirt underneath, took its cue from both 18th century crinolines and 1950s Dior silhouettes. Topped with a sheer mesh black bodice – “to let the skirt do the talking” – and a beret composed of battery powered petals, it made an immediate impact and would no doubt be as arresting in 20 years time as now.

From Carlow and a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Nolan is completing a history masters programme in TCD and says the Curiosity Studio’s residency programme in the Chocolate Factory “gave us all a kick start and a new skill. Technology helps you create and enhance what you do already and should be seen as another tool of the trade.”