Fashion awards not the hottest ticket in town

THE main event in Ennis Fashion Fortnight, the Most Stylish Person in Ennis Award and the Fashion Show from the Limerick College of Art and Design, has been cancelled.
The show was due to take place in the Temple Gate Hotel on Friday night, with celebrity judges RTÉ’s Brian Ormond and model Pippa O’Connor but a poor uptake in ticket sales forced the organisers to pull the plug.
Tickets for the event were priced at €50, to include a champagne reception, buffet and wine, band and DJ.
Gwen Culligan, of the Ennis Fashion Fortnight, explained that, regrettably, they were left with no choice but to cancel the event.
“Ticket sales were very slow. On Wednesday morning, we met to decide what we should or could do and we all agreed that we had to cancel the event. Otherwise, we were facing a situation where we would have held the event at a huge loss and quite honestly, the money is not there to do that,” she commented.
She did not confirm how many tickets had been sold for the event but added that they were “very disappointed”, as it promised to be a great event.
“There is always fun surrounding the Most Stylish Person in Ennis Award and the fashion show for the students from the Limerick College of Art and Design is a big deal for them and always very enjoyable, so it’s a shame the event has been cancelled,” Gwen said.
While she stated that Ennis Fashion Fortnight has been a success in some respects, she added that it had been very difficult to fill ticketed events this year. “All of the free events were very busy, jampacked but it was a struggle to sell tickets for the events which people had to pay for. The recession has obviously had a clear negative effect on Ennis Fashion Fortnight,” she commented.
Gwen said that in terms of putting Ennis on the fashion retail map, the fashion fortnight had been a success and the town was busy last Saturday.
“It’s impossible to know yet if shop sales were up during the fortnight, particularly on the two Saturdays but certainly, the town was busy. All of the free events went down very well, particularly The Health and Motivation evening on Tuesday. The Real Clothes for Real People Fashion Show last Thursday was also a great success and was very enjoyable,” Gwen added.
She pointed out that The Real Clothes fashion show tickets were priced at €20.
The student fashion awards were due to take place at the fashion show in Shiels Showroom on the Gort Road, Ennis this Wednesday, subject to availability of students. However, the Most Stylish Person in Ennis Award was not re-scheduled.
The organising committee said that another success of the Ennis Fashion Fortnight had been the extent to which retailers came on board and got involved this year.
“The events were well supported across the board by our local boutiques and retailers, which is a positive for the event going forward,” she said.