Dublin Independent Fashion Week gets under way today with a showcase of the work of 60 Irish designers in an event at the GPO.
Now in its fourth year, the designer led initiative comes ahead of a decision by the Derry-born Creative Director at major fashion house Dior to launch their Autumn Winter collection in the Irish capital in December.
The opening night event of DIFW will see the floor of the historic post office taken over by models in what is described as a live fashion exhibition.
During the Postmarked event, models will move through the GPO’s main hall in choregraphed groups, in clothes which the organisers said have been inspired by the rituals and visual language of the post office.
Mihai Mar, a knitwear designer from Blanchardstown in west Dublin, is producing the event which features some of his own work.
Designer Mihai Mar said a lot of Irish fashion talent tends to move abroad
He said being involved in Dublin Independent Fashion Week opens doors for Irish designers.
“I feel like here in Ireland, we don’t really have like a fashion industry. A lot of talent tends to move abroad to pursue a career in fashion.
“We have amazing talent like Simone Rocha and Jonathan Anderson making huge waves abroad, but we wanted to create something here to provide a platform for designers to thrive in Ireland,” he said.
Mr Mar said it has opened so many doors for his brand.
“Being part of this collective has brought my brand to Copenhagen Fashion Week, which is wonderful, and I also got to be the lead knitwear producer for season two of Wednesday’s Netflix, and that’s been an amazing opportunity for my brand,” he said.
The fourth year of this event comes ahead of a national Fashion Week being held in the capital next month and hot on its heels will be the launch of fashion house Dior’s Autumn Winter Collection in Trinity College, by its Derry-born creative director Jonathan Anderson.
Managing Director of Dublin Independent Fashion Week Ashley Shak-Penn said Irish fashion is “having a moment”.
Managing Director Ashley Shak-Penn said Dublin’s fashion scene is doing its own thing
“Maybe five years ago, you could ask your average person outside of Ireland if they could list an Irish designer. They would say no.
“So, it’s a really great place in time, where Irish materials like wool and linen, those are being known, those are being protected, and then the names themselves like Jonathan Anderson or Simone Roca or Robyn Lynch, all of these designers have become household names, and not for copying something else, or not for being big in Paris or New York, for being big here in Dublin,” she said.
“We aren’t really trying to copy any of the other cities” in the fashion scene in Ireland or the fashion week. “We’re trying to really do our own thing.
“It started about four years ago with just a group of friends, a group of designers who, some of them came back from living abroad. They were working here in Ireland, and they felt that there was no supports really for them,” she said.
“They wanted to be able to grow their career and their businesses here, but they just felt like there wasn’t enough infrastructure. Essentially, so DIFW really just started off as a weekend of events, volunteer-led events, and from there, it’s grown exponentially year-on-year.”
More than 40 events are taking place as part of Dublin Independent Fashion Week between now and 17 September and many are already sold out, reflecting the high level of interest in Irish fashion right now.