Chaotic new career for Michelle

A NORTH Clare woman is turning her passion for fashion into a career.

 

Ruan’s Michelle Courtney Ryan recently returned to college, emerging earlier this year with a City & Guilds diploma in fashion design and knitting, as well as a FETAC Level 6 for both advanced fashion and knitting. Michelle is mother to three children aged between two and seven years. Balancing starting a business with rearing young children is “chaotic” but rewarding.

“I had been off work to have my children so I took advantage of following what I had a passion for. That was the main reason I went back and did fashion. I went to the Limerick College of Further Education in 2011 and did two years in one, finishing in June.”

According to Michelle, going back to college has been hugely beneficial in progressing her design ability.
“I was taught to sew as a very young child by my mother and my grandmother, whom was a trained dressmaker and an avid Aran knitter. I made my first graduation dress for an older cousin at the age of 15 and have been sewing ever since from formal wear to wedding dresses, kids’ clothing and home interiors.

“So I had the sewing skills from childhood but going to college gave me the development process. The course gave me more background skill and business knowledge and it was a good insight into the design process. It broke the process down for me.”

Michelle specialises in bespoke formal and occasional wear, including fine knitwear and accessories. “My main area is fashion textiles. I do fine knits as well but they would be secondary. I personally love the tailored garment. I believe the best can be brought out in any figure with the right use of shape and line. As a mother of three young children, I believe fashion should be practical as well as very fashionable. I think any style, shape or trend can be functional by adapting the fabrics used to achieve the look,” she explains.

“My catchphrase is ‘forget your imperfections’ so the clothing is designed for normal women, who like bespoke and tailored clothing but who don’t have to be a size 10 to look fabulous. I would say that my clothes are designed for woman from the age of 25 up.”

Starting a business now is a risk but Michelle believes there is still a market for quality garments, particularly if they are adaptable.

“I believe there is a strong market for my work. There are lots of working women out there who are not the standard size 10 who want a business suit with a good line but who can’t spend €500 on it. I also think there are a lot of mothers out there who have a son or daughter getting married who don’t want the flowers and flounces that seem to be generally produced for them. The standard mother of the bride outfits seem to be very similar at the moment so I think a lot of women want to move away from that.

“I believe women always take an interest in how they appear. I know times are harder for everyone now so I think women are being smarter and more efficient in how they shop. They want their clothes to be more multifunctional and that is something I try to accommodate.

“A garment that is made for one function should be able to be adapted or accessorised to meet another function. This could mean an outfit could be worn to a child’s communion and then to a wedding or for other semi-formal engagements or it could mean being able to take the jacket off a suit and using it as part of your business wardrobe afterwards.

“It is all about being able to dress things up or down. It can be as simple as changing the accessories to give the impression of a new outfit completely,” she adds.
Michelle loves to work with silk because of its multiple uses.

“There are such a diverse variety of silks at the moment and they are adaptable to any situation really. You can create a garment from silk for any occasion from a wedding dress to a good shirt for general wear, even down to children’s clothing. There are a lot of silk mixes out there too that are very hard wearing and adaptable so they don’t have to be very expensive,” she concludes.