WHAT’S ON YOUR RADAR…

CIARA O’NEILL, Brown Thomas Artist in Residence 2022

What long dreamt of plans are you going to get to enjoy this year?

My friends and I have had a house booked in Sneem in Kerry for the past year, we’ve been counting down the weeks until we can go and it’s happening next week! We can’t wait to spend some well missed quality time together. It’s got an outdoor heated swimming pool so we’re definitely spoiling ourselves.

Festivals are back, do you have any cultural delights you are going to this year?

I’ve had tickets to go to the Chemical Brothers for the past couple of years which has been rescheduled for this June. I’m dying to go see them and they also have amazing visual displays at their gigs.

What podcasts/shows are on your list right now?

A podcast I’ve been meaning to listen to is “My Therapist Ghosted Me” by Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally. I listen to music constantly while I paint but I’ve been meaning to mix it up a bit and put on a podcast.

What book are you most looking forward to reading this year on the beach?

I’m not really a book reader. I’m dyslexic and can’t really take in a book but I make up for it by watching movies. A favourite movie of mine would be “The Grand Budapest Hotel” it’s such a colourful quirky movie and I love Wes Anderson’s work.

Tell us about your residency in our Dundrum store?

It has been an absolute dream come true for me to be Brown Thomas’ artist in residence. It has been such a fun project to be a part of. It’s definitely a pinch me moment. I’ll never forget walking in for the first time for a sneak preview, my mind was blown away with how the team used my art throughout the store. Everyone in Brown Thomas are so lovely to work with. I work on my own all the time so it was a great feeling to be a part of such an exciting project.

SARAH MACKEN, Journalist

Summer’s coming, what long dreamt of plans are you going to get to enjoy this year? Far-flung travel? Swimming in warm turquoise waters?

After not leaving the country for close to three years, I’ll be embracing all things Mediterranean with a trip to Mallorca in June. We’re checking into a converted monastery in Palma for a few nights before renting a car and touring around the South East Coast. I think I’m most excited to visit a new beach every day, buy some ceramics and indulge in excellent tapas. Oh, and to enjoy the local delights (that is, cava!).

Festivals are back, do you have any cultural delights you will have to go to this year?

I’ll be making a beeline for Lismore Castle where girls girls girls the multidisciplinary art show curated by Simone Rocha is in residence. It’s an ode to subversive female artists – interesting women like Cindy Sherman, Petra Collins and Genieve Figgis, who I’d like to learn more about.

What podcast/show is on your list right now?

Catch me bingeing any thriller I can sink my teeth into. Whether it’s Sienna Miller’s Anatomy of a Scandal, Ben Affleck and Ana De Armas in Deep Water (a sexed up, scandalous thriller in the vein of Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal) or Pieces of Her on Netflix, starring Toni Colette. (I must prefix this with the fact that these thrillers aren’t always necessarily good!)

What book are you most looking forward to reading this year on the beach?

I just finished Cleopatra & Frankenstein by Coco Mellors, and I’m gushing about it to whoever will listen. It’s a stylish novel about an impulsive yet doomed marriage that’s filled with lots of wry reflections on modern life. Each chapter is compulsive and staggeringly well-written. I read that it took Mellors six years of writing and 30 rejects from publishers to get the book into the world – it only makes me love it more.

Are there any new Instagram accounts you have recently been inspired by and why?

I live for Mathilde Augusta @mathildeaugustadam. The way she mindfully blends fashion, softness and slow living in Copenhagen always makes me feel inspired. I always enjoy tuning into self-professed ‘nannacore’ dresser @ _liullland and her idyllic life in the Cotswolds. When it comes to flower porn, I’ll be watching Charlie McCormick (@mccormickcharlie) in his lush garden – his show of dahlias each summer is spectacular.

We know you love flowers from your gorgeous Instagram account, how will you indulge in your twin passions for fashion and flowers this summer?

Any way I can! I’m currently filling up my greenhouse with lots of seedlings – Icelandic poppies, black velvet nasturtiums and oodles of hollyhocks – that will hopefully bloom into plentiful summer flowers. I want to visit some beautiful cottage gardens (the kitchen garden at Ballymaloe House is next on my list), which is always the perfect excuse to throw on a bucolic sun-dress – on my wishlist right now is an embroidered broderie anglaise midi-dress by Sea. Fashion and flowers are pretty intertwined for me; both about colour, happiness and self-expression.

JO LINEHAN, Sustainability journalist & consultant

What long dreamt of plans are you going to get to enjoy this year?

It's all about music experiences for me this summer. While I've made the most of domestic travel and have even managed to sneak a trip to New York into my itinerary, I am counting down to the rescheduled slew of gigs and events. Haim at Trinity College, The Killers at Malahide Park, and a CMAT and Maggie Rogers concerts are all on my to-do list.

Festivals are back, do you have any cultural delights you are going to this year?

I'm a wellness nerd, so anything that involves health, movement or mantras is my happy place. Lucy Bloom's Women's Circles became a lockdown ritual for me, so I'm excited to attend one of her manifesting retreats in person. If expense was no object, I would be setting sail on the Goop Cruise, but I'll happily settle for the Copenhagen Fashion Summit this June for some Nordic sustainable inspiration.

What podcasts/shows are on your list right now?

My hero Dana Thomas (author of Fashionopolis) has just launched her new podcast, The Green Dream, which offers a fascinating and positive outlook on the future of our planet. My own podcast The Futurist series is bursting with new Irish brands and changemakers redefining what a sustainable lifestyle looks like. As for TV and streaming services, I've been hooked on Severence, a strange and unsettling psychological thriller on Apple TV, and WeCrashed, the true story of the founder of WeWork. I adore a fall-from-grace business story.

What book are you most looking forward to reading this year on the beach?

I can't wait to finally read Foo Fighter frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's autobiography The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. I love his music and his energy. Plus, I need to finish Dr. Robin Berzin's book State Change. She's the founder of Parsley Health, a functional medicine practice in New York that examines the intrinsic link between our mental and physical wellbeing.

What Instagram accounts inspire you right now?

Though I don't wear a lot of makeup myself, I love to follow makeup and skincare creators - it's so therapeutic! One of my favourites is makeup artist Jamie Genevieve. Her beauty line Vieve has just gone into the new Brown Thomas store in Dundrum, and I love her approach. TarMarz, an Irish vlogger in New York, is always inspiring too. Her sense of style and artistry is awesome. Finally, contemporary artist Aoife Scott shares intimate visuals of her work and process, which is a treat.

What will sustainable living look like for you this summer?

I've tried, with limited success, to go zero-waste this year, so the summer will offer new challenges in avoiding single-use plastic for things like SPFs. I can't wait for brighter mornings so I can get back to sunrise swims and spend as much time in nature as possible. With a few weddings and formal events in the diary, I'm going to embrace renting fashion this season instead of buying. There are so many great renting options available now; there's no excuse not to be stylish while lowering my impact.

LOUISE DUFFY, Broadcaster & Host of Brown Thomas Podcast

Summer’s coming, what long dreamt of plans are you going to get to enjoy this year? Far-flung travel? Swimming in warm turquoise waters?

I am so excited for summer this year. My brother and sister in law are getting married in the south of Spain this summer and we’re all really looking forward to it. It’s a combination of what we’ve missed most; family gatherings and sunny holidays.

Festivals are back, do you have any cultural delights you will have to go to this year?

Babies and lockdowns have meant that I have missed EP for a couple of years now, so I’m really excited to get back to Stradbally. I can’t wait to see Tame Impala and Arctic Monkeys especially. Also, for my fix of amazing Irish artists, there’s a fabulous festival in Sligo that I’m hoping to get to; Wild Roots.

What podcasts/shows are on your list right now?

Why, the Brown Thomas Podcast of course! We’ve had so many amazing guests recently and lots more to come this summer.

What book are you most looking forward to reading this year on the beach?

Pandora Sykes has started a book club, so that’s my reading list. Currently on the kindle, The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan and next up Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason.

Are there any new Instagram accounts you have recently been inspired by and why?

I really like @pollysayer and @emmarosestyle. They both have incredible taste in fashion and interiors, with a really nice mix of high/low - so I can justify their influence!

What fun activities will you do with your gorgeous little girls this summer?

I hope to make lots of happy memories with my little girls this summer. I want them to feel sand between their toes as much as possible, in Ireland and abroad. And I’d love them to spend lots of time with their cousins in Kerry and Mayo.

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