SPOTLIGHT ON…
SHELLY CORKERY is fashion director at Brown Thomas and founder of CREATE, a platform for emerging and established Irish designers that returns for its ninth year.
Brown Thomas fashion director and founder of CREATE Shelly Corkery
When I was 17, I moved to Paris for a year. I lived in the 6th arrondissement, and the city really opened my eyes to the glamour and wonder of fashion – I felt I was living the dream. As a teenager growing up in Ireland, I bought every issue of Vogue and scoured each page, absorbing every item and idea within those pages. I knew then that fashion would be my future.
MY STYLE IS CONTEMPORARY WITH A TWIST. I love the fast pace of fashion and enjoy embracing new trends, but I always try to maintain my own personal stamp, while injecting a level of sophistication. It’s so important to balance catwalk trends with your own individual interpretation. Lainey Keogh knits and Lucy Nagle cashmere are two of my favourite brands. I also adore Helen Cody for her exquisite couture pieces – she creates the dresses dreams are made of.
I LOVE HOW CLOTHES CAN EVOKE MEMORIES, and offer such a strong reflection of an individual’s personality. The fashion industry matters so much to our economy and personal wellbeing. It’s also a creative, enterprising, multifaceted industry that has the potential to initiate significant change. SUSTAINABILITY IS SO IMPORTANT TO THE FUTURE OF
THE FASHION INDUSTRY. We all need to take greater responsibility. Brown Thomas is talking to all of its brands right now about their manufacturing processes. Nine years ago, when I first started CREATE, the Irish fashion industry was suffering. Businesses were closing and something had to be done to help. We began searching for up-and-coming talent along with existing designers and constructed a platform for them to showcase and retail their collections in Brown Thomas. THIS YEAR’S CREATE OFFERS
MORE DIVERSITY AND NEWNESS THAN EVER. We did an enormous reach out to new talent, and there are some very exciting designers involved, including Katie Ann McGuigan and NCAD Brown Thomas Designer to Watch runner-up Colin Burke. This year offers a magnificent knitwear collection and an even larger selection of milliners. Luxury leather designer Úna Burke returns with an amazing collection; there will be so much talent on show.