FLYING THE FLAG II
We continually, if justifiably, fuss over the Irish designers fronting eponymous, internationally-famed labels (see our Save The Date name-checks for attestation) but what of the remarkable workers who, season after season, prove indispensable assets to some of the industry’s foremost makers? The illustrious Michael Power forms one such example. Following four insightful years studying fashion at NCAD, Power launched into an intensive, top-tier MA at London’s Central Saint Martins, labouring under the tenacious (but, by most accounts, deeply admirable) tutelage of the late Louise Wilson.
“We were actually [her] final year,” Power reflects. “We graduated in March and she passed in the middle of May.” As one of the last nascent designers to be directly shaped by Wilson’s standards (from her ruthless teaching sprouted the Kanes and Katrantzous of this sector), Power was destined for a high-ranking role and, scarcely a fortnight after his graduation, he came across it: a Paris-based position as part of Lanvin’s core design team. The latter gave him no more than a week’s notice to transplant his life across the Channel.
“In retrospect, I feel really lucky that [the time between graduation and Lanvin] was relatively short, but I had those couple of weeks after finishing college where I was like, ‘what am I doing with my life?’” Power laughs. “I think everyone has those feelings.” Much like his MA with Wilson was one of those ‘end-of-an-era’ experiences, Power’s time at Lanvin was similarly marked: joining while Albar Elbaz was still creative director, thus bearing full witness to his sudden departure, he stayed for nearly three years before returning to London for his current coveted role as senior womenswear designer at Roland Mouret.
A purveyor of sustainability and pragmatism in dress long before the former became mainstream, Mouret’s personal devotion to aiding the industry percolates through his label’s workplace. As Power reports, “We are replacing all our viscose with sustainable viscose, and all the fabrics we source now are consciously certified – we’ve an amazing fabric team who do a huge amount of research on that. Roland himself has championed sustainability through his own personal project, the Arch and Hook hanger [composed of 80% repurposed plastic, sourced from river waste] which we produce for every garment we make. This [mentality] filters down to the office, too – single use plastics have been banned, we have a big recycling set-up, we’re constantly swapping vegan recipes! It’s pervasive. Fashion has to take this seriously and adapt to a changing world, to whatever future we have in store.” With the RM team working on two collections simultaneously, Power is constantly on the go – from finalising samples with the Production and Atelier teams to ensuring his three design assistants are on track, he’ll be resting for a total of TWO days after the AW20 show before resuming that rapid-fire work pace. His parting words assert that industry success is by no means exclusive to establishing an independent brand – far from it, in fact. “I think when I first fell in love with fashion, when I was 16, [setting up my own label] was a kind of fantasy, but I feel very grateful that I’ve had such an amazing experience working in the industry, working with such amazing teams of people, being able to be creative but also without the consequences of having to run a business, which can be incredibly difficult… So never say never, but at the moment I’m very happy.”