Business development award kick-starts Kaitlin’s career

A YOUNG Clare fashion designer is making the best of a year’s mentoring from industry and business experts, in an effort to become a successful designer and remain in her home county.

Kilkee’s Kaitlin McGrath graduated from the Limerick School of Art and Design earlier this year, emerging as the overall winner of the Contour 2012 Fashion Degree Show.

At the time, Kaitlin also earned the coveted AIB Graduate Business Development Award, which included a year’s mentoring programme with retail consultant and chairperson of the Council of Irish Fashion Designers, Eddie Shanahan and AIB’s Small and Medium Enterprise specialist Maeve Duff.

Since then, the young West Clare woman has been working on her autumn/winter and spring/summer collections. This will be shown as part of the Irish and Clare Designers Showcase during Ennis Fashion Week 2012.

“It’s daunting starting out but Eddie is hugely helpful and people have been showing interest, which is exciting. I want to expand what I am doing and working with Eddie has been brilliant. I would like to stay in West Clare if possible because I am a home bird anyway so if I move, the furthest I move will be Ennis.

“It is great to be at home near your family and friends because it means you have a support network in place. You leave college where you are getting advice from your lecturers and that feedback is so important.

“You need opinions from different people when you are designing and here I have my parents and my sister and they will be honest with me and honesty is what you need.”

Kaitlin loves to design from the mannequin. Her ideas are inspired by the natural drape of the fabric, rather than a 2D drawing.

“I work a lot with lightweight jersey and chiffon. My designs are about the natural fall of the fabric on the body, rather than structure and how the material lies on the body,” she explains.

For her final exhibition, Kaitlin designed and produced a six-piece collection on the theme ‘Still Grew the Beat of Our Wings’, which was inspired by the old Irish tale, The Children of Lir.

“I might have a few pieces from my final year collection in the show. I have carried the same theme through my autumn/winter and spring/summer collection. I have been expanding the degree collection and really working on the business side of things since graduating.

“At the moment, I am working with Eddie on my business and figuring out who my target customer is. Since finishing college, I have done some specialised pieces for the County Boutique in Ennis and that has let me work on fashion for normal women because in college I was mainly designing for mannequins and models, not for what I see as my target customer.”

Kaitlin believes boutique owners in Clare are open-minded about new designers, particularly home-grown ones.

“I haven’t approached many shops because I am only starting out. But Gwen in the County Boutique has been very supportive. I think boutique owners here want to help local designers and there is a huge emphasis on Irish design in Clare. I have a small collection of beaded collar boleros and capes, exclusive to The County Boutique. They are a key item this season and an ideal way to re-invent an outfit at a reasonable price.”

Kaitlin also offers a bespoke design service for people who want a unique garment.

“People are far more cautious with money these days and I have created my collection with this in mind. I believe that people should spend money on key pieces that can be worn again and again. I want my garments to feel special; I make everything by hand, paying particular care to detail.

“I think as consumers we have moved away from buying clothes all the time to investing in things that are really spectacular and enduring. We are willing to pay for things that will last for years so that is an area where Irish designers can do well,” she concludes.