Deirdre McQuillan

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Deirdre McQuillan

Since its launch in 2016 for the centenary of the Easter Rising, Stable of Ireland’s tricolour scarf, a new take on the familiar green, white and orange of the national flag, has become one of the company’s enduring best sellers. The subtle tones of the design – green seaweeds of Donegal, deep orange montbretia (known in the west as the back-to-school flower) and grey limestone of the Burren – were specially chosen to reflect the wild Irish landscape.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Deirdre McQuillan

In two weeks’ time in Paris, Irish designer Jonathan Anderson will make his much-heralded debut as creative director of Dior, the most famous fashion house in the world, with his first collection of men’s wear. His appointment will bring all the collections – menswear, womenswear and haute couture – under the wing of one designer for the first time since the death of founder Christian Dior in 1957. Dior himself came to Dublin in 1950 to open the Dior boutique in Brown Thomas.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Deirdre McQuillan

Languages were always a strength for Orla McLaughlin at school, where she studied French and German. “I always wanted another language,” she says, so she settled on Italian and politics as it combined Italian with her interest in current affairs. An Erasmus placement brought the Greystones woman to Venice and, having completed her degree in Italian and Politics at UCD, she returned to Italy for a postgraduate diploma in European studies in the University of Padua.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Deirdre McQuillan

Summer from July to September is the time for weddings – there were more than 7,000 in Ireland in the summer of 2023, the most popular month being August. It’s obvious why; the days are long, the weather (mostly) good, gardens and countryside are looking their best, and being holiday time, the mood is festive.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Deirdre McQuillan

Stories are embedded in what we wear; language and cloth are intricately connected. The words text and textile come from the Latin texere, to weave. Fabric and fabricate come from fabrica – something skillfully produced. The words lingerie, lining and linoleum all originate in linen. We talk of life “hanging by a thread”, being “on tenterhooks” or “spinning a yarn”. The drive to establish textiles as a fine art movement began in the 1960s and has gathered momentum all around the world.