Charlotte Ryan speaks to Irish designer Oran Aurelio about creating CMAT’s Electric Picnic outfit, evolving his iconic looks for The Traitors Ireland and how Irish designers are having their moment.
Oran Aurelio is “still on the most insane high ever” after a momentous weekend in his career: designing CMAT’s jaw-dropping stage outfit for her electrifying Electric Picnic appearance, and seeing his reworked designs on the premiere of season two of The Traitors Ireland.
Although his client list includes Chappell Roan, Addison Rae and Ariana Madix, it’s clear that his Irish collaborators are especially dear to Aurelio’s heart.
Last weekend’s Electric Picnic was a particularly notable moment for the Dublin-based designer.
Speaking to RTÉ Lifestyle, Aurelio highlighted the significance of the “thoroughly Irish production” behind CMAT’s show-stopping arrival on the EP stage, – a collaboration between him, designer Helen Steele and CMAT’s stylist Katie-Ruby McLaughlin Robinson.
A year to the day after the release of her celebrated album Euro-Country, CMAT – whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – stepped out on stage in an eye-catching vivid blue leotard and detachable skirt that paid homage to the blue velvet gown Aurelio designed for the album cover.
Recalling getting the invite to collaborate on the star’s stage look, Aurelio says it was “the most no-brainer decision I’ve ever had to make”.
It was a perfect sartorial storm: Aurelio met with Steele weeks before the request for a new stage design had come in, with the pair pledging to collaborate on a project in the future.
“I said to myself, I would die for the collaboration to have some sort of meaning”, Aurelio says. “That it wasn’t just a collaboration for collaboration’s sake.”
Aurelio’s mood board for the Electric Picnic look. Photo: Oran Aurelio
With Steele brought on board to work on CMAT’s EP look, the renowned designer created the one-of-a-kind fabric featuring a collage of euro coins, lapis lazuli, cranes and some buildings from the Docklands, in a “sumptuous” two-way stretch silk.
From there, CMAT, Katie Ruby and Aurelio pulled from different inspirations, eventually settling on a long-sleeved leotard worn by Ann-Margaret for a series of promo photos in the 60s. The finished design would be an evolution of the saintly royal blue dress from the album cover, this time adapted with a godet gusset to allow for extra high kicks and splits on stage – a detail that CMAT immediately noticed, Aurelio says.
Perfecting the outfit took numerous leaps of faith, as CMAT continued her busy summer tour and Aurelio patterned the look based on measurements alone.
“There was no time for fittings”, he says. “When you’re patterning, it’s made out of paper, so it’s very much you’re hoping, guessing, and wishing and praying.”
Aurelio with CMAT ahead of her Electric Picnic performance. Photo: Oran Aurelio
Finally seeing it on CMAT before the EP set was an especially emotional moment for Aurelio:
“I’ve been working with Ciara for the last three years. I’ve seen her career obviously skyrocket. She’s been one of my biggest supporters, so for her to be wearing this outfit for her headline Electric Picnic gig on the anniversary of the album, of the album that I’d done the album cover graphic, it was really emotional for me.”
“When she got into the costume and got ready, she was like, you’re my Bob Mackie!”
Three years into his career, Aurelio is seeing a number of projects evolve, including his work on The Traitors Ireland, adding pieces to the expansive and immersive wardrobe created by stylist Anne O’Shea for Siobhán McSweeney’s Lady Muck character.
Aurelio says that as he joined the team again for series two, which premiered over the weekend, the focus was on a “continuation” of the fashion story, rather than a switch up.
“There were some Constance Markievicz references that I’d used and some references to John Singer Sargent paintings I’d used”, he says. “But also then taking into account the Sloane Rangers from the ’80s, like this kind of British frilliness … but then I went and I found the Irish version of those references.”
Siobhan McSweeney wearing the Oran Aurelio cloak
A key piece of the show’s wardrobe is Lady Muck’s cloak, which Aurelio designed for the first season and reworked for the new season.
“I recut it and resewed it so that it would hang differently, so the gathers are slightly different in the back, and it has more of a drop now at the back.”
Aurelio also worked with designer Sarah O’Neill, the designer behind Éadach, which specialises in silk pieces, who created a silk lining for the cloak that evoked Irish mythology.
“So even on the inside, it tells this Irish story.”
Irish fashion and design is resolutely having its moment, with designers like Simone Rocha and Jonathan Anderson moving the dial on the world stage and the dual fashion weeks – Dublin Independent Fashion Week and Ireland Fashion Week – taking place later this year and throwing even more of a spotlight on smaller Irish designers.
Although not involved in either fashion week this year due to having a very busy schedule, Aurelio is emphatic about how Irish designers stand apart from the crowd:
“I think Irish people inherently are storytellers. Every collection, every show, everything that I see with Irish creatives and Irish people who work in fashion, they’re storytellers.
“And I think storytelling with fashion is such an odd thing because at the end of the day, it’s a garment. I think the problem with fashion is if you’re telling stories through clothing, where does it end and begin in terms of, is it the dress? Is it the coat over the dress? Is it the whole look?
“But I think Irish people tread that line extremely, extremely well. [They] are so good at telling stories through their garments but also having them stand alone as incredible works of art and works of fashion.”
The greater focus on Irish design has brought the possibilities of being successful and influential in the industry closer to home, he says:
“It’s given people a sense of, oh, I can do that too. It’s given, I think, young designers a sense of hope because it can seem quite daunting as a small island, the smaller a population, the smaller a client base will be, inevitably.
“I think it’s a really beautiful time for Irish fashion people, whether it’s stylists, designers, sewers, makers, whatever the case is.”