Deirdre McQuillan's style file
SNAP THIS UP Couturier and illustrator Peter O'Brien is to design an inexpensive winter fashion collection for a|wear. "O'Brien is an amazing designer and I want something of that for our customers. I am always searching for the ultimate fashion pieces for them, and Peter is the answer to that," said Anne Marie Flood, managing director of a|wear. The collection will be launched in September. Collaborations between high profile designers and high-street chains are nothing new. In recent years, the once-off collections commissioned from Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney for the Swedish giant H & M have been enormously successful. For O'Brien, who spent seven years with Rochas in Paris and who is currently working on the costumes for the Gate Theatre's forthcoming production of Somerset Maugham's A Constant Wife, the a|wear collection is a new challenge. "The rules are different; you do the same job using different tools. You have to prove yourself in other ways. It is a good discipline," he says.
PRADA POETRY This Little Piggy Went to Prada is a selection of traditional nursery rhymes "for the Blahnik brigade", rewritten with a fashion theme by writer Amy Allen, who graduated from Oxford with a degree in Japanese and now lives in Singapore. "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I've been to London to visit McQueen. Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there? I bought the collection and kissed lots of air." The cute pen-and-ink illustrations are by Eun Kyung Kang and the book costs €19.95 in Harvey Nichols in the Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 14. Part of the sale proceeds will go to the Save The Children Fund.
DIVINE DAHLING
A frilly little skirted bag in green/grey suede is by Mint, an English brand stocked by Divine, a new boutique in Manor Mills Shopping Centre in Maynooth, Co Kildare which has an individual selection of clothes and accessories. The bag costs €45 and is decorated with inexpensive brooches costing from €12 to €25. Mary Greene, proprietor of Divine, says that she gets quite a mix of customers, from students who like zany labels such as Boxfresh and Fornarina, to young mothers looking for something fashionable, yet practical. Those heading for the sun will also find colourful luggage and flip-flops from Roxy. Divine is open seven days a week; late openings Thursday and Friday, 01-6292550.