Fashion Design

Emma Cleary

Comhleá

This collection is inspired by Irish Dancing and my experiences of dance as a child. To visualise the concept, I focused on Irish dancing costumes and their various components, details, and embellishments. I investigated how they have evolved from the traditional simple silhouette to the more extravagant modern form. The heart of Irish Dance costume is its use of Celtic motifs, usually embroidery and pattern work. I decided to use the iconic The Book of Kells as a starting point for researching Celtic symbols and designs. I brought together elements of shape, texture, and colour from The Book of Kells in my research and developed my work through using collage initially and crossing back to technical elements from Irish dancing costumes.

The book is most famous for the medieval illuminated manuscripts for the intricacy, detail, and majesty of the illustrations. It is this interpretation of the book that I wanted my final collection to represent. I wanted to bring through colour and texture in the fabric sampling, signifying the depth and richness of blues and oranges found in the vellum pages of the ancient manuscript. Irish sourced wools and denims form the base for the collection, fabrics that have a natural connection to the land and have their Irish heritage present in their weave.

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