At this time of year, a grand entrance is called for, writes Deirdre McQuillan. Styling: Catherine Condell. Photographs: Alan Betson
'Antiquity everywhere",wrote the 18th Lord Dunsany of his family home, Dunsany Castle, in Co Meath, the august location for our Christmas fashion feature - providing an appropriately atmospheric setting for full-blown sartorial seasonal splendour. Birthplace of illustrious generations of Plunketts, such as
St Oliver, Horace Plunkett and the aforementioned writer Lord Dunsany, the house and its owners have a long and significant history and can trace their ancestry back to pre-Norman times.
Crystal-studded black columns, lush velvets and fiery red duchesse satin dresses suggestive of a bygone era are as much at home in these historic surroundings as the ancient coats of armour in the entrance hall. Said to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Ireland, it is today home to the 20th Lord Dunsany, the artist and sculptor Edward Plunkett, and his wife, Maria Alice, a Brazilian architect and designer. Evidence of their creative partnership can be seen throughout the house, and Maria Alice's Dunsany Home Collection offers stylish table settings and decorative porcelain, much of which has been designed by her husband.
Dunsany Castle has ties with Irish fashion, for it was here in July l953 that a group of American fashion buyers and journalists en route to Paris, along with the photographer Richard Avedon, were lured to a fashion show by the legendary Irish-born editor of Harper's Bazaar, Carmel Snow. The powerful Snow, the Anna Wintour of her day, brought her band of fashionistas to Dunsany, where they were bewitchedby Sybil Connolly's pleated linen, red flannel "peasant" skirts and Carrickmacross lace. That event put Connolly on the US fashion map and she never looked back.
The present Lady D, as she is known locally, not only masterminds major architectural projects but is also a talented interior designer and embroiderer who creates fashionable settings with apparent ease from found items around the estate, alongside specially-sourced products from the best European manufacturers.
Dressing up for Dunsany meant dramatic ballgowns for sweeping staircase entrances and a lot of old-fashioned grandeur put to modern use. Perfect for dreamy Christmas evenings as the old year ends.