Fashion Forward: Natural fabrics, summer steals and Chupi’s style advice

Dominique McMullan and Deirdre McQuillan round up this week’s fashion news


Naturally fabricated
Tissue is the French for fabric and the name of a bright new Irish label using only natural materials such as silk and wool founded by Hannah Mullan and Gráinne Finn. Mullan served her apprenticeship with Simone Rocha, John Rocha, Sharon Wauchob and Danielle Romeril, while Finn comes from a print-making and curatorial background.

Their love of spare lines and strong sense of colour show in their collections and they now have three stockists, two in Dublin – Made in Powerscourt and Atelier 27 on Drury Street as well as in So Collective in Kildare Village where they are among the top 10 best sellers. This pretty pink wool dress, €350, is from their current collection. Visit tissue.ie or find it in Made.

Bespoke tailoring
At the recent Met Gala in New York, US singer songwriter and teen throb Nick Jonas was voted one of the top 10 best dressed by many men's magazines and by Vogue. The suit he wore, a blue moiré silk tuxedo with black ottoman lapels, was made by the Irish master tailor Rory Duffy for Topman. A fifth generation tailor from Monaghan, Duffy, who trained with Joseph Martin in Sligo and Louis Copeland in Dublin among others, was at 25 the youngest master to an apprentice at Henry Poole on Savile Row in their 200-year history. Three years later, he joined the part-time facility at Parsons in New York where he continued to educate fashion students in the art of handcraft tailoring. Now after 10 years abroad and passionate about teaching, he has returned to Ireland "to bring bespoke tailoring home and encourage more young people to join a craft, make something beautiful and make a living doing it". Watch his video series The Making of a Coat and visit his website roryduffybespoke.com

Vintage goes online
Open for Vintage is a new online platform founded by three London-based Irish entrepreneurs showing men's and women's vintage fashion, bridal wear, accessories and jewellery. Chief executive Colin Saunders brings e-commerce expertise, James Loftus sources the best boutiques at home and abroad while Sarah Kate Byrne knows vintage fashion. They promote small specialist businesses and help them retail online, so there are rare Givenchy and Nina Ricci pieces for under £150 (€179) and investment items from Hermes and Chanel.

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Steal V Splurge
Make like a tree in this banana leaf print blouse for €586 from Dolce and Gabbana at farfetch.com or leave your wallet at home with this cotton loose fit T-shirt for €19 from M&S.

Style secret: Chupi Sweetman-Pel
'My Granny believed in wearing your silk dress and dancing in your suede shoes and I also try to follow her lead. We all have previous things that we keep for special occasions but life is far too short not to enjoy the pieces you love the best!' Chupi Sweetman- Pell, designer

Wear it
This green wrap over dress (€79) from COS will see you through to winter while flattering every curve.