When it comes to fashion, few people are as unapologetically themselves as Fionnuala Moran whose bold style is a refreshing change from the at times homogeneous nature of same-y trend cycles. A staunch supporter of vintage and secondhand, she loves pairing thrifted pieces with Irish design for a look that's uniquely hers. She shares a week in her wardrobe below.
MONDAY
Monday brought me to Ballincollig, who are TidyTowns champs, so I needed a hardworking and sustainable outfit to run around showcasing their brilliant biodiversity-boosting efforts. This red vest is vintage, like a lot of my jumpers. My grandad Jim used to snap John Hinde postcards on family holidays around Ireland and one of his tips was to always have some red in the shot to make them pop. Here I am all these years later doing exactly that! He’d be fascinated to see my social media work given his love for photography, which I feel I inherited. I also inherited my granny Angela’s beautiful blue and gold ring. She grew up in Macroom and my TidyTowns hosts knew her family, so it was cool to be wearing an heirloom of hers for this gig. My white shirt is from Dublin Vintage Factory in Temple Bar and is very breathable which is great when lugging a tripod about and sprinting around to get the various shots. A long day of travel and filming like this usually involves my New Balance 327s as I find their comfort top tier. The sunglasses are vintage Dior that I found at a market on the promenade of Lake Maggiore in Italy, where we got engaged. The cost-per-wear on sunglasses is always next to nothing (provided I don’t lose them), so when I find a secondhand option that suits my nose, I’m sold. Designer Exchange has been a handy secondhand spot to nab these over the years too. Keeping the Cork colours going, my red bracelet is from a trip to Malawi with Concern Worldwide, to showcase the life-saving climate adaptation work they’re helping communities there with. These jeans are secondhand from, I think, Vision Ireland on Capel Street. Jean shopping is a tricky art form, especially secondhand, but these got the job done. Ideally, I’d like a wider leg, so I’m on the hunt for some mega-wide secondhand ones now.
TUESDAY
I got peanut butter on my outfit trying to organise a lick mat for the dogs just before I left for my Six O’Clock Show climate catch-up segment, so I quickly changed into this trusty teal suit that I nabbed secondhand ages ago on Depop. You might have clocked my penchant for sustainable options already – I quit fast fashion as my 2018 New Year’s resolution and it was the catalyst for a fabulous sustainability journey that’s ever-evolving. “Thanks hun, it’s Depop,” has been my version of “Thanks hun, it’s Penneys,” for the last few years as a result! For these TV slots, I’ll often organise to wear one of the many incredible sustainable Irish designers I adore, but this stretch has been too busy for that. However, the glint of gold on my ears is Grá Jewelery’s Brigid’s Cross earrings, which I stumbled upon in The Big Smoke Vintage recently and love! Gold shoes are my go-to heels at present, which I found secondhand on Depop too. I also got my gold bodysuit on that resale platform. My gran’s gold ring is on again, this time coupled with a moonstone Claddagh I found in Kearns and my engagement ring which is from Gray’s – two brilliant Irish jewellers that have loads of vintage options.
WEDNESDAY
Fun one today, as I was DJing for Amy Huberman’s new wine brand launch party in Café en Seine. The dancing emoji lady was who I channelled, serving flamenco vibes to lean into the Spanish terroir of the tipples. To carry my decks to the venue I wore my trusty Nicky Hoyne leopard print mules, but popped on the same gold heels as yesterday for my set. When I’m not buying secondhand, I’m supporting Irish designers. I knew when I was gathering my tunes that this would be a really fun set, so brought a Hey Hun Handmade giant gold scrunchie, in case I had to tie my hair up with the heat from dancing so much. The earrings are over a decade old and I can’t remember where exactly they’re from. The red broderie anglais dress is a Depop find from years ago which gets seasonally cycled back into my wardrobe from the attic each summer. Rewearing things I love to death is a huge way to make my style more sustainable, and also saves me a lot of the time and energy it can take to source new looks regularly. I had seen some gorgeous Aje dresses in our ever-growing array of amazing rental boutiques that would’ve been great for this gig too, but the busy burst meant the old reliables in my wardrobe triumphed.
THURSDAY
Absolutely no two weeks of work are the same for me so there’s no routine to my style at the moment. However, Thursday brings the only grounding point in time and space with my weekly voiceovers in RTÉ. This week, I was running errands before and sitting down to a content edit after recording, so it was an easy breezy style day. Eventually, I aspire to David Beckham’s habit of laying out his clothes for the week ahead, but I couldn’t be further from that at the moment and my floordrobe is sizeable by the end of each week of dashing about! If the mild weather turned this Thursday I had one of my fiancé’s Pellador jumpers at the ready, to go with these black corduroy trousers that I nabbed vintage shopping in New York a few years ago. I found this shirt in a charity shop and the waistcoat came from a vintage seller on Depop called Threads of Eireann. The trio of something vintage, a secondhand charity shop find and an Irish design piece sums up almost every outfit combination I make. Every time I wear these Claddagh hoop earrings I’m always asked where they’re from so it’s a thrill to direct people to a female-founded Irish brand called Don’t Kill My Vibe. I felt I was wasting my first pedicure of the summer season, so opted for flip-flops to make the most of the mild day. These ones are so comfy and I found them brand new in Vision Ireland on Camden Street last summer for just a tenner, much to my delight.
FRIDAY
Thursday was a dash from live event hosting to a podcast recording, both of which were front-of-camera pieces of work so I needed to look a little bit put together. I changed out of a longer green zebra print dress for the first event into this fun one for the podcast. It’s about sustainable weddings and this Depop-find was giving bridal era. In September I set myself a challenge to not wear tan for six months, and that led me to lean into tights more, like these fun ones from Tights Dept in Stephen’s Green shopping centre. My current “briefcase” is this gold bag which is a recent Siopaella purchase. I love going into the little treasure trove Ella has curated when I need a circular wardrobe refresh. A birthday present of a starry One Dame Lane necklace is on my neck – I love a celestial motif. The sock boots were a grab-and-go choice this morning. They serve me very well legging it about, and all 5ft 4 inches of me loves the lift of a heel. I don’t know if I’d re-buy them now, I think they’ve had their moment, but they’re still very handy so I’ll wear them until they’re worn out.
SATURDAY
This was a bit of a surreal Saturday. My fiancé Rebel Phoenix was on support duties for a Notorious B.I.G. tribute gig in the Sugar Club featuring friends of the iconic late rapper. His set was fab before Lil Cease and The Frank White Experience wowed us into the wee hours. When he’s on stage, I put myself on social media duties capturing segments of the set for him, so it’s important to be able to move around with ease. Saturday nights are for a great strut and a dance, and there are no better boots in my wardrobe for this than these silver cowboy boots, which, once again, were a Depop find. Excuse how repetitive I am about that app but the algorithm on it throws me up options I love for fab prices all the time making it easy for me to think secondhand first, which is a mantra I recommend for sustainable style. The skirt is a sequin gem my sister-in-law-to-be gave me – she used to be a manager in retail so she has heaps of fab bits I’m more than happy to take. The faux fur coat is vintage from Om Diva, so cosy to stave off a chill as we power through the ever-changing spring weather. My fabulous neighbour, A Little Idea, created these fun earrings. The shirt and top are ancient. Fear not about the creases, the dancefloor helped iron those out rapidly.
SUNDAY
Sundays are for hikes with the doggies and the fam, so this was a very unglamorous Mother’s Day outfit. We did Bray Head’s Victoria Walk after a morning of cheering on my gals doing the Dublin City Half Marathon. While I was very casual, the dogs were in their Sunday best sporting Irish design with martingale collars and velvet leads from Houndland. Chaperoning them, I was head-to-toe in New Dimensions Activewear and a pair of Hokas. All of my runners are wrecked from muddy dog walks with my adopted angels but c’est la vie. When it comes to workout wear, I like to be head to toe in the one colour so have been popping between monochromatic navy and brown looks on my active days lately. The wolf T-shirt is easily two decades old and still as cherished as ever. My mam picked it up for me stateside when she was visiting a pal when I was very young and it’s lasted so well. My sling bag is from a local boutique in the old town in Nice, where I enjoyed a gals’ trip last year. Their old town is devoid of big international chains and it made it really special to peruse. It would be cool to see a similar approach adopted across Temple Bar to celebrate Irish design. Given how rare of a joy pockets are on women’s clothing, these sling cross-body bags get a huge amount of wear by me. The jumper was a vintage buy from Vision Ireland, I think, but it was barely needed given the heat we enjoyed. Here’s to summer style – my favourite season is almost upon us!
The PTSB Ideal Home Show returns to the RDS Simmonscourt from April 11 – 13. Tickets are available at idealhome.ie. Fionnuala Moran is judging the Fleetwood Paints Challenge, challenging entrants to transform a piece of furniture in their home to be in with the chance to win a €500 Fleetwood Paints voucher and a luxurious two-night stay with dinner at the Leonardo Hotel Dublin Christchurch.
Photography by Fionnuala Moran. We may earn a commission if you buy something from any affiliate links on our site.
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