#LFW: Paul Costelloe plays the Irish card on catwalk return

Making a return to the catwalk last night after an absence of several seasons was Paul Costelloe who presented his collection in the ballroom of the Waldorf Hilton as part of London Fashion Week.

His daughter Jessica greeted guests in a long flamboyant emerald skirt.

The designer played the Irish card right from the start with the “I know my Love” traditional air accompanying the opening sequence of short tiered dresses with oversize sleeves in lustrous rich green brocades.

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Like similar versions in textured Italian tweeds, their wide shoulders and flared swingbacks looked like Wolf Hall regalia but styled with bouffant hair and over the knee black stockings.

More accessible were his familiar fit and flare shapes particularly the neat little cowl necked tweed dresses and handsome coats caped with velvet that seemed more in tune with contemporary life.

In the Fold, a touring exhibition of the work of seven young Irish fashion graduates opened last night in a carpark in Soho, part of the British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase initiative.

The designers, their friends, the curator of the show Gemma Williams and members of the Irish community were amongst the many guests who included Maighread Condon Simmonds, Irish born mayor of Kensington and Chelsea (dressed in Louise Kennedy and Dior), Lady Oxmantown and her six year old son William who is taking part in the forthcoming production of Madame Butterfly in the Royal Albert Hall,fashion adviser Aisling Farinella, Maria McGovern of Kildare Village who sponsored the event and Karen Hennessy CEO of the Irish Crafts Council.

“It is really important for emerging designers to have a platform on an international stage and this is a start”, said Hennessy, “but there is so much more to do.”

One of the young designers, LSAD graduate Michael Stewart from Clare whose sleeveless dress embellished with tiny green bugle and glass beads "took hours and hours" is hoping to further his studies at the RCA in London while another, Oliver Duncan Doherty from Donegal whose breastplate was woven in white leather cord has already created work for Game of Thrones.