An ever-growing tribe of loyal followers 'live' in the flattering clothes designed by Mariad Whisker. She talks to Deirdre McQuillan
One of the benefits of the current UK retail domination of Dublin is that it is reaping rewards for some Irish fashion designers. Take Mariad Whisker, for example. Last November, on the initiative of Enterprise Ireland, she showed a collection to House of Fraser buyers in Claridges Hotel in London. "They immediately took it for London, Manchester and Dundrum. My production tripled overnight," she says. Up to then her only customers had been small Irish boutiques and private clients.
Such substantial upsurges in orders means she now needs a bigger manufacturer. "When I got back from LA, the whole business in Ireland had gone and the small manufacturers had evaporated. People told me everything had gone abroad," she says. Starting up again three years ago, after a seven-year stint in the US was a challenge. "The label was still recognised here, which was a plus, and the other side was that people assumed it was still where I had left off. When I came home I had to start from scratch."
Her production was small, mostly confined to upscale boutiques including Khan, Diffusion and the Design Centre and private clients such as artist Anne Madden, Ali Hewson, Morleigh Steinberg and Sybil Unger. "Now it's the other way around and I have to find the right backer to get the stuff made up, and to the standards I like. Smaller Irish shops are fantastic, but I feel honoured that House of Fraser took me on when Irish companies didn't come looking." According to Jean Ann Taylor, general manager of House of Fraser, "It was very important for us to support Irish designers when we opened the store, but also from a commercial point of view it was the right decision. We are very pleased with results from Mariad Whisker."
Her winter collection has the current strong Victorian theme interpreted in the Whisker way. Loose, unstructured clothes have always been her hallmark and signature details in this collection include "swag" dresses and pinafores with hems flamboyantly anchored on the hip with polished metal buttons. Her "wave" skirts cut in horizontal curves have sexy side slits, while a flattering trousers style has been so successful that she did nine versions over the past few seasons.
There are the season's new puff-hemmed skirts and plain black woollen skirts enlivened with seams of thin white lace, but the most alluring of all are those made in heavy bands of embroidered gauzy silks, Japanese fabrics that take on an added ethnic look when worn with long, light bouclé coats. "I am finding it quite calming using fabric that is not all surface texture. These fabrics are so beautiful that I can put my simple shapes on them, but it's the fabric that sells." For spring, she has already lined up more of these opulent fabrics in modern fine weights, along with her familiar John England linens. "I am only up and running three years this September, but I am at the stage now that it took me 10 years to reach before."
As well as House of Fraser in Dundrum, her collection can be found in Khan, Blackrock; Design Centre, Powerscourt; Diffusion in Clontarf; Sans Souci in Malahide and Fellini in Cork.