IT is always a pleasure to welcome a new name to Irish fashion, but in Penelope Mahon's case, welcome back would be the more appropriate expression. Mahon is no newcomer to the business, although she has been absent for quite some time, which is why her work will not be familiar to most members of the public today. Having studied fashion back in the 1960s, she graduated from the Grafton Academy of Dress Designing in 1969, where she won a number of awards including the Grafton Academy Cup. Afterwards, she worked in various areas of the industry, most notably with Michael of Lachasse at the London couture house.
Then came marriage and children, bringing decisions about what had to be the priorities at the time. However, a keen interest in design coupled with good business sense weren't allowed to go to waste. For a few years, Penelope Mahon had a shop in the Ranelagh area of Dublin which fully lived up to its name of Treasure Trove: crammed all sorts of tempting treats for the home, it closed last year because she decided to focus on fashion once again.
Her children now being sufficiently old enough to fend for themselves (although "she still makes all my party dresses for me" says her daughter), Mahon started to create made to measure clothing for private clients in 1994. Having shown her work during London Fashion Week a year ago, she now sells through Chelsea Collections on the Fulham Road. She plans to increase this end of the business in Britain by presenting her clothes at small private parties. But the domestic market has not been ignored because earlier this season Penelope Mahon staged her first show at Dublin's RDS where the full range of her designs could be admired.
While some of the work is perfectly fine for women in the office, Mahon describes her clothes as being "mostly for special occasions in a semi couture style." Because she goes to a lot of trouble to hunt down the very best fabrics, many of these are the same as those used by French and Italian design houses. Daywear includes lots of boldly bright silk tweeds ("that's the same as Chanel uses," she comments of one) for suiting; jackets here are strongly defined at shoulders and waist and teamed with skirts that run from just below the knee to mid calf. Sometimes the skirt is in a contrasting fabric: navy wool, for example, when the jacket is a navy and turquoise tweed with flecks in pastel hues, or turquoise velvet to accompany a jacket in orange and turquoise tweed (with velvet also used for the collar and pocket flaps).
She also produces a series of simple, understated belted jersey dresses.
Mahon's range of ensembles suitable for early evening runs from a black silk velvet dress with silk tweed jacket to a metallic toned raw silk frock coat and matching trousers.
She obviously loves to make an effect because other examples of her evening wear include such extravagant delights as a white organza wrap blouse shown with an Indian silk skirt made from stitching together lengths of different coloured, metallic embroidered braiding. Then there is an electric pink bolero in cock feathers over a red silk velvet bias cut slip dress and a completely voluptuous wedding dress in gold lace.
Considering the materials and the skill required to make up many of these pieces, Penelope Mahon has somehow managed to keep her prices down to a reasonable level. Day suits average £400 each, while jackets for evening cost £200-300 depending on fabric. Evening dresses start at around £350. While she always has her own range of designs and pieces in stock, she is happy to meet the needs of individual clients. Which is why even women who have not known her work until now will be delighted to give Penelope Mahon a warm welcome.