Latest trends from the world of fashion
SHOE IN Isobel Sarsfield, that talented Irish shoe designer, is scaling new heights. Known for fanciful, very feminine and exquisitely made footwear, she was recently taken on as a consultant by Marks & Spencer. (Her expertise and talent have also been sought by Armani and Next.) Her range for M&S - in stores by September - will feature suede-and-leather wedge-heeled boots lined with fake fur, as well as riding boots and others. Distinctive details such as bows and corsages are very much part of her style. This shoe is from her current spring- summer collection, which you can find at Cherche Midi in Dublin, Bella in Drogheda, Una Conroy in Carlow and Shoes and Shirts in Kinsale.
BIG IS BEAUTIFUL Don't say you weren't warned, but the big skirt has become the retail hit of the season. They are appealing to women of all ages: younger women who have never worn them before like the swish factor; older women are sick of tight and unforgiving pencil skirts. The trend started about a year ago, with the fires fanned by designers such as Comme des Garçons and Alexander McQueen, who showed wider, stiffer exaggerated versions. Now they have breezed into the high street. This one, a batik print with a slightly African air, is from Dunnes' Savida range, at €40. The bead-trim top is €30.
JEAN GENIE There may be more to blue jeans than denim, but prices for premium labels are nearly the same as those for iPods these days, as the quest for exclusivity becomes even more desperate. A woman I know confessed to spending €350 on a pair; her guilt was assuaged by the perceived benefits to her posterior. From the days when people used to steep themselves in the bathtub to shrink their jeans to fit, today's hottest numbers come preshrunk, tattered, distressed, broken down and generally tortured. Arcane brands come with three-figure prices, Japanese cult jeans from Evisu come marked "rare and ancient" and a recent article in the New York Times had a jeans-company executive claiming that a price tag of $1,000 would not be a deterrent. These jeans, from Lee's current collection, cost €103 and are called the 101 Zip Fly Slim Fit Bootcut - Reshaded. Try asking for that fast.
BARBOUR SHOP Barbour and I go back a long way: through bramble- brakes, streams, hedges, ditches; over stone walls and mountains; on still lakes and rough seas; at the angry end of possessive rams and bounced to bits on trailers going up the beaters' front line on pheasant shoots. No other country clothing will do the job or make you wax so lyrical. Now there's a Barbour concession at Clerys in Dublin, with a full range of waxed jackets, quilts, shirts, T-shirts, jackets, trousers and more. No Barbour is cheap - the Cheviot storm coat is €549 - but you can reckon on close to a lifetime's service. Here, too, you can leave in your tired Barbour to be sent to HQ for reproofing - my jacket came back looking well pepped up. Anyone, from anywhere on the globe, can return their old Barbour to be reproofed, repaired or altered: the company prides itself in saying that, sooner or later, most Barbour jackets come home. Barbour is at www.barbour.com; its Clerys outlet is at 01-8173142. Andy Barclay
DOWN TO A TEE The often-maligned fashion industry occasionally puts it best foot forward, and never more so than with Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. Since Ralph Lauren pioneered the campaign in the US, in 1994, it has spread to 13 countries on five continents and raised more than €16 million for charity, principally by selling bullseye T-shirts, with the support of retailers, photographers and high-profile models such as Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Iman . On Wednesday the campaign comes to Ireland, with Brown Thomas, BT2 and some A-wear shops selling the tops for the next six weeks. Ninety-five per cent of the money raised will help develop Action Breast Cancer's services for younger women with breast cancer; the remainder will go to Europa Donna, which campaigns for better breast-cancer services. The T-shirts cost €30 and €35.
