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Fashion
NURTURING IRISH FASHION OF THE FUTURE
Every summer a new generation of Irish fashion designers emerge from universities across Ireland. With so much incredible talent coming from our shores to the world stage over the years, the future of fashion and design is looking ever brighter, and this is a future we would like to nurture. One of the ways we do this is with the Brown Thomas ‘Designer to Watch’ bursary award in association with NCAD. Now in its fifth year the award has brought a host of amazing winners to our store and further afield. Colin Burke returns to the store this July for CREATE. We are delighted with how this bursary has launched the careers of talented individuals and has ensured our design community survives and thrives.
The winning design by NCAD student Heather Gilroy who won the Brown Thomas Designer to Watch Bursary 2019 as chosen by our Fashion Director Shelly Corkery. The prize includes: an installation of designs in CREATE 2019 and a mentoring programme with the management team. As seen on model Áine O’Gorman.
#BTCREATE
THE NCAD SHOWCASE AT THE WESTBURY
The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Fashion Design degree has its annual fashion design showcase event every May, hosted and supported by The Westbury, a Doyle Collection Hotel who sponsored the production of NCAD’s fashion film, and by a Brown Thomas bursary award chosen by our Fashion Director, Shelly Corkery as the ‘Designer to Watch’.
THE PRIZE
This year’s ‘Designer to Watch’ prize includes a €4,000 cash bursary, an opportunity to showcase an installation of designs in CREATE 2019 in our Dublin store this July and a mentoring programme with the management team. Look out for Heather’s beautiful designs on display in our Dublin store this summer.
ON GENERATION NEXT
Our Fashion Director, Shelly Corkery said: "In such a fast paced and dynamic industry, one in which newness is highly sought after, identifying the next generation of design talent is a core part of our business. Showing great promise, this year’s NCAD students have demonstrated remarkable capability across all aspects of the design process, from concept to construction and presentation, and I have no doubt that they are at the outset of long and successful careers."
Our Fashion Director Shelly Corkery announcing the winner of the NCAD Brown Thomas Designer to Watch Bursary award.
COMING UP ROSES : HEATHER GILROY
ON HER COLLECTION
Heather explains: "My collection was inspired by the ‘Repeal the Eighth’ movement and imagery from Sylvia Plath’s poetry alongside Victorian nightwear and men's tailoring of the same era, ‘Among the Flat Pink Roses’ aims to construct and celebrate modern femininity."
ON SUSTAINABLE FASHION
She says: "Sustainability is front and centre in the fashion world right now; and rightly so. The fabrics for my collections were sourced from leftovers from other designers collections, which shows you the creativity that can come from working with waste fabric."
It is such an honour to be chosen as the Designer to Watch 2019. I am really looking forward to the mentoring programme at Brown Thomas and can’t wait to learn more from industry experts. Displaying my work alongside emerging Irish designers in CREATE is also such an exciting opportunity at the start of my career.
Heather Gilroy
Details from award-winner Heather Gilroy's notebook showing her design process for her collection.
THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Since 2014 we have been striving to uncover and celebrate the most exciting design talent with the Brown Thomas x NCAD Design to Watch Bursary. This year's winner is a future star of Irish fashion.
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Our newest designers know how to include sustainable practices into their designs, now see the impact our biggest brands are making in Sustainable Strides.