‘I am a dreamer’

Celebrating a decade in the industry, award-winning designer Natalie B Coleman tells Siobhán Breatnach about her love of Monaghan, finding joy and the future of fashion

Growing up emersed in the natural beauty of her home county of Monaghan, Natalie B Coleman continues to be inspired by freedom and dreams of the countryside. Marking 10 years in 2021 since she launched her studio and eponymous label, her artistry exudes a feminine, yet disruptive quality that has earned her critical success and a legion of fans such as Suki Waterhouse, Mary J Blige and Laura Whitmore.

Having studied at Limerick School of

Art & Design and London’s Central

Saint Martins, it’s been a decade of learning and growth. “Surviving in the business,” she replies when asked what have been among the highlights of the past decade - perhaps with a hint of humour though as anyone knows building a fashion brand from scratch is no easy task. “Having beautiful people wear my creations,” she adds. “Learning a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. Learning to delegate and accepting that not everything can be a success.”

“I love working with beautiful people, materials, ideas and creating clothes that tell stories and make people feel good. Collaborating and learning are also where the joy lies.” Coleman uses her creative platform to advocate for social parity and her work embodies a directed hope for modern Ireland. Undertaking a Master of Philosophy in Gender and Women’s Studies at Trinity College Dublin, she advocates for women’s reproductive rights and has collaborated on campaigns such as Plan International’s Because I Am a Girl. “I have always been a supporter of equality and there was an underlying feminism in my work from the beginning, though since starting my studies in gender, it has become more than just informing the process and has embodied all of the recent collections,” she says.

Her AW19 collection Sisters, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund was a triumphant celebration of the power women have in creating change in the world. Lockdown saw the designer win the 2020 IDI Designer of the Year Award for that collection. She also created a range of masks in support of other femalefocused good causes. “We have been busy making beautiful masks in organic cotton printed with our own designs and also sexy silk masks and donating a percentage of profits to the charity Women’s Aid,” she says.

Last Christmas she launched a collection of goddess dresses, titled Sister, Mother, Goddess with prints, embroidery, beading and Carrickmacross lace. “We had the shoot at the Museum of Irish Literature, just off Stephen’s Green, the day before lockdown kicked off,” she says.

“Aisling Farinella was the stylist and Brid O’Donovan the photographer. Weldon’s jewellers inside Powerscourt loaned all their gorgeous mourning Victorian jewellery.”

Models, ranging in ages from their

20s to their 70s, included Tolu Makay, Eta Connolly, Andrea Horan, Rachael Thomas, Jeanne Nicole Ni Ainle and the Gaffey girls. “Mum Lorna and her three daughters Rachel, Kate, and Suzanne, all stunning redheads,” Coleman says. “It was an empowering representation of modern Irish diverse women. I collected a high-profile cast of women to collaborate with and created a bespoke dress design for each, taking powerful archetypes in women’s lives and linking these back to goddesses.

“The collection is a celestial celebration of women heralding their diverse achievements, multi-faceted talents, different bodies, sexuality, and strength,” she adds. “The message is that there is a goddess in every woman, and inspiration to be taken from all of our lives.”

Merging tradition and innovation is part of the Natalie B Coleman vision. Coleman became the first Irish designer ambassador to Microsoft Ireland in 2013 - bridging technology with fashion. “I am interested in the possibilities of creating stories through fashion and using AI but it is something that I haven’t had any access to yet,” she says. “For me at the moment, I like working with craftspeople in a future craft way and am very much about handwork such as embroidery, needlework, knit, weave, illustrations and screen printing. I think that we have such a beautiful heritage of traditional craft skills and working these into future craft ideals through concept and materials with sustainability at the core is how the industry will move forward.”

Expect some exciting collaborations later this year and a launch of a very special collection in 2022. In the meantime, the Dublin-based designer is looking forward to spending the summer with her family. She spent lockdown “throwing myself into the sea regularly and falling in love with it” – no surprise given her love of the great outdoors from an early age. “Monaghan was a beautiful place to grow up in terms of been in nature all day and having lots of freedom,” she says. “I was into books and daydreaming pretty much. I think both of those things have stayed with me. I am definitely a dreamer.” And for Natalie B Coleman those dreams have very few limits.

“Monaghan was a beautiful place to grow up in terms of been in nature all day and having lots of freedom.

I was into books and daydreaming pretty much, I think both of those things have stayed with me”