CLOTHESlines

ALL MINE: If you've ever wondered how some women seem to wear shrugs and pashminas with elegance, while others look choked by them, Ros Hickey has the answer. A former wardrobe adviser, Hickey has developed her own solutions to some of the thornier problems of how to wear wraps over (or instead of) jackets.

She has devised a colour-coded, lightweight range in a variety of fabrics and colours that can be shrugged over a jacket and anchored with a decorative brooch. The secret of success lies in the recessed sleeves that keep the wrap firmly in place. "Mine" wraps can be customised for day or evening in anything from fine bouclé wools to silks and chenilles. Prices from €100; contact Ros Hickey at 087-6453065.

FUTURE FASHION: A forthcoming exhibition in London's V&A called Spectres takes as its starting point how fashion designers, from Christian Dior to Hussein Chalayan, are inspired by past ideas. The circus performer, the harlequin, the Greek goddess and the bohemian are regular sources of inspiration, while decorative details such as pleats, bows and lace are constantly reinterpreted by fashion designers. "In a way it explores the idea that all dresses are related to other dresses and that we will meet the past in the future. It is about common ideas," says curator Judith Clark. The exhibition will feature clothes by Dior, Schiaparelli, Mary Quant and Pierre Cardin as well as Jean Paul Gaultier, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, Dries Van Noten and Veronique Branquinho. "Spectres: When Fashion Turns back" runs from February 24th to May 8th at the V&A, admission is free.

CYAN OF THE TIMES When Lisa Kilmartin talks about denims "so going-out now", she means that jeans are anything but on the wane - and anything but simply daywear. The new owner of Cyan in the Swan Centre in Rathmines, Dublin, along with her sister Deirdre, intends to introduce smaller, dressier brands, alongside Lee and Wrangler jeans. Cyan will be stocking Irish designers such as Joanne Hynes, Leigh Tucker and Antonia Campbell Hughes rather than established big brands such as Naf Naf and French Connection. "Our customers are everybody from teenagers to 70-year-olds," they say. The sisters, who were brought up in Canada, returned to live in Ireland in the early 1980s. Their interest and experience in fashion developed in tandem; Deirdre working as a buyer for Dunnes Stores at one stage and Lisa in Cyan.