Being in a relationship and expressing your individuality can be a challenge. Belinda McKeon asks four couples how their partners influence their dress sense
'WE THINK HE'D LOOK GREAT IN JEANS, BUT HE WON'T WEAR THEM' ANN AND JOHN KAVANAGH
Does actor John Kavanagh influence his wife Ann's style? After all, they have been married for 32 years. "Ah no," she laughs. "John wouldn't take it that seriously." The world of fashion, she means, not the marriage. Still, John is always the actor you'll meet coming out of a long day of rehearsals wearing a smart jacket rather than the usual sweater-full-of-holes; he's a regular at Louis Copeland, who designed the suit he's wearing here, and he takes tips from the couple's eldest daughter Emma (24), who's studying at the London College of Fashion. His daughter advises him that, being tall and thin, he can get away with tight-fitting clothes, so trips to Zara for shirts (though generally undertaken for him by Ann) are not unusual either.
Ann, meanwhile, seems to have been influenced by her husband's career at least to some extent: "I'm big into theatrical and quirky things," she says. "Though I'm tending now towards more structured clothes, but with a twist. Isabel Marant [stocked in Costume, clothes from which Ann is wearing here] would be a favourite designer." She adores costume jewellery, and has collected Vivienne Walsh since the designer's early days in the Hibernian Way - the earrings and necklace she wears here were bought from Walsh 12 years ago. Her daughters (Trinity drama student Rachel, 20, plays Lauren in Fair City) dip into her jewellery box and borrow the few clothes she's kept from when she was their age. She regrets, she says, that she didn't keep more finds from the Dandelion Market in the 1960s. John, meanwhile, will never be convinced of one thing that his wife and daughters keep telling him. "We think he'd look great in jeans," says Ann, "but he won't wear them. That's a pity."
'WE DON'T DO THE WHOLE PINK DRESS, PINK TIE THING' LOUISE DUNNE AND RAY KELLY
Louise Dunne's teachers at school didn't like the sound of what she wanted to do for a living. A career in fashion and make-up, they told her, didn't really exist. Undeterred, she went on to train as a make-up artist in Manchester, and now works on the MAC counter in Dublin's Brown Thomas store. Pictured here in gear from River Island, with her boyfriend Ray Kelly dressed by River Island and Jack Jones, 20-year-old Louise says her career with MAC is a huge influence on the clothes she puts together.
"On a Saturday night, I'll know first what make-up I'm going to wear and decide what to wear on that basis," she says, describing her style as a mixture of "girly" and "edgy". Though she'll turn to Chica or Lipsy when feeling flush, Louise shops mainly in River Island, as does Ray - who, she says, can pull off both the "classic metrosexual" and the "casual, urban" looks. They don't make an effort to co-ordinate, they say, but it often happens anyway. "We don't do the whole pink dress, pink tie thing," says Louise, "and I don't know if it's that we think the same way, but if I was wearing something classy, and didn't tell him, he would often be dressed up, wearing a blazer." They may be chainstore shoppers, but they're not without their touches of bling - they wouldn't be seen anywhere without their designer shades. "I'll be wearing a Penneys tracksuit," says Louise. "but I'll still have my Gucci glasses on. That's just who I am. Whatever looks good to me in the mirror, that's what I'll wear."
'MY ONLY CONCESSION TO PREGNANCY HAS BEEN A PAIR OF SIZE 12 JEANS' VENETIA QUICK AND MARTIN THOMAS
Eight months pregnant with her first child, Q102 presenter and producer Venetia Quick is never out of her killer heels and refuses to spend money on maternity wear. "My only concession to pregnancy has been a pair of size 12 low-cut jeans and some stretchy combats," she says. "I've covered the bump with belts, cardigans, scarves. I've been as creative as I can." Here she wears a top from H&M, a skirt from Berksha at the Dundrum Shopping Centre, shoes from Foot Candy, Blackrock, and accessories from Brown Sugar and Ave Maria on South William Street and Clarendon Street in Dublin. Her partner Martin Thomas is a club promoter whose ventures include Strictly Handbag at RíRá and, most recently, Songs of Praise at the Village. He buys most of his clothes abroad - he had the suit seen here tailor-made in Buenos Aires. His shoes are from Ted Baker, and the Zara tie was a gift from Venetia. He also owns more than a dozen pairs of sunglasses, including the vintage 1970s pair he wears here.
'I WANT TO DRESS IN A WAY THAT IS PLEASING TO UUVE, AND I THINK IT IS VICE VERSA' FIONA AND UUVE GRATZER
It wasn't really her husband Uuve's dress sense that attracted her to him when they first met in the early 1990s, says Fiona Gratzer; meeting as they did on a beach on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, neither of them were wearing very much at all.
These days, working together at Unislim (the firm founded by Fiona's mother 30 years ago, and of which Fiona is now director), and after 13 years of marriage, they have an inevitable influence on one another's style. "I want to dress in a way that is pleasing to Uuve, and to get his approval, and I think it is vice versa," says Fiona. Here, she is wearing an outfit by the Galway-born designer Joanne Hynes, whose style she rates highly. Jen Kelly, who designed Fiona's wedding dress, is also a favourite. Uuve, meanwhile, often has to return to his native Austria for clothes to fit his 193cm (6ft4in) frame, but when he does shop in Ireland, he goes to Cuan Hanly and Nicky Wallace, whose shirt and suit jacket he wears here. Paul Smith, Paul & Joe and Miu Miu are also favourite designers. But it is shopping for shoes, Uuve admits, which he really enjoys. "I have a soft spot for them," he says. "At the moment my favourites are a pair of brown Patrick Cox loafers, though I like cowboy boots, too." Do they shop for each other? "Not without consulting her friends first," says Uuve. "Fiona bought me a great Paul & Joe shirt a while ago, though. She really gets it right." The couple, who have two young children, agree that making their career from working with people who are anxious about their image makes them more aware of looking good. "I definitely take pride in how I look and will make an effort most days," says Fiona. "I think you can make an effort with your clothes no matter what weight you are."