IT WAS a case of “here come the girls” at the RDS in Dublin yesterday for the final day of the Ultimate Girls’ Day Out show.
Children and menfolk were abandoned as more than 4,000 women arrived for the event, organised by the publishers of Irish Tatlerand Umagazines.
If your idea of fun involves fashion, make-up, massages, heels, hair extensions, tarot readings or teeth-whitening, then this was the place to be.
Host Lorraine Keane looked radiant in a red Kilkenny Design dress from their autumn-winter collection, one of the labels modelled at one of the four catwalk shows yesterday.
Will the presenter's autobiography, which hits shelves on October 29th, be a Devil Wears Prada-type, warts-and-all exposé of the Irish media industry? "It will be gritty and gripping!" she laughed, "a little look behind the scenes, but it will be fun".
On Saturday, aspiring models were taught how to walk the walk by catwalk veterans from Assets modelling agency while Sallyanne Clarke of l’Écrivain restaurant gave tips on planning the perfect party.
Yesterday, business gurus Danuta Gray of O2 and Sarah Bean of Coty, the fragrance company, warned aspiring businesswomen that finding something you love and knowing how to read a balance sheet were critical to getting ahead.
TV3’s Xposé producer Debbie O’Donnell told a packed room that a job in TV was not all about champagne and premieres. “The easier and more glamorous it all looks, the harder it is” she said. “Be prepared to do all the shifts that no one else wants to do and you’ll get there.”
It wasn’t all lipstick and Louboutins though – for those with a more charitable bent, Debbie Deegan of the charity From Russia with Love and Deirdre Campbell of Women’s Aid revealed the highs and lows of helping out, and invited women to get involved.
