Meet Emily Jean O’Byrne, the Irish designer dressing Ballerina Farm
Hannah Neeleman will be well known to many readers as the ‘Ballerina Farm’ influencer with over 10 million followers. The Mrs American ‘23 pageant queen, former ballerina, businesswoman and ‘Trad Wife’ is married to Daniel Neeleman, son of JetBlue airline founder David Neeleman, and the couple have eight young children. The family recently upped sticks from Mormon stronghold Utah to Cork where they’ve been learning to cook at the acclaimed Ballymaloe Cookery School. While studying there, Ballerina Farm's Hannah and Daniel Neeleman have been spotted wearing Irish brands that include Kindred of Ireland, Cushendale and Emily Jean Atelier. Ruth O’Connor speaks to milliner Emily Jean O'Byrne about accessorising Ireland's most-watched visitor of the moment.
“My reaction was one of great excitement!” says Galway milliner Emily Jean, whose shop Emily Jean Atelier is located in Moycullen, Galway. “I was so excited to see Hannah wearing one of my Irish linen hairbands – and not just once but several times.”
When Emily Jean heard that the Neelemans were in Ireland she thought that her ‘Fiona’ Irish linen hairband would be a perfect fit for Hannah who is known for her aspirational (and often divisive) wholesome content that embraces traditional homemaking, cooking meals from scratch, animal husbandry and church-going.
“I sent a message wondering if Hannah would be open to receiving a gift,” says Emily Jean. “I was then asked to email a bit about who I was and my background. I received an email saying that Hannah would be happy to receive a gift but that there would be no guarantee that she’d post or tag a photo of herself wearing it.”
Emily Jean sent a couple of designs including the linen piece that Hannah has been spotted wearing and another design featuring a Liberty print fabric. “I was thrilled that she decided to wear my piece and I was delighted with her photos – she was pictured wearing it with her hair up and down, during cookery classes, on family outings and on her husband’s profile so she seems to be getting great wear out of it,” says Emily Jean. “She hasn’t tagged me yet but I’m still holding out hope!”
I asked Emily Jean if she regularly works with influencers to promote her products. She says that, as a small independent brand, the influencer marketing route is not one that she has gone down as one often requires deep pockets to do so. “As a small brand I don’t have the budget to pay people to wear my designs,” she says. “And indeed, as time goes on, I am becoming even more selective about who I send samples to in terms of whether or not the product suits the person and reflects my brand values and my ethos. For me, it’s not really about the number of followers a person has – it’s about the right followers – whether they align with my brand and my own followers or not.”
The headband that Hannah Neeleman has been wearing is a design that Emily Jean came up with during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a milliner specialising in the creation of headpieces for occasions such as weddings and the races, the impact of the lockdown was seismic for her business and she had to pivot quickly in terms of the products and services she was offering. She developed a range of headbands or ‘turbands’ that were a perfect foil to salon closures and grey roots and that also tapped into the huge surge in the use of platforms like Zoom at that time. Initially featuring Irish linen, the range has grown to encompass around 30 different styles including bridal pieces and embellished designs perfect for weddings and the races.
“There was massive support for Irish businesses during the pandemic and I think what helped a lot was the media getting on board and asking the public to support Irish design – every magazine you picked up, every radio show you tuned into was calling on people to support local businesses,” says the Galway-based milliner who initially trained as a jewellery designer.
“Obviously there’s been a huge amount of change in the past few years in terms of how people are buying and what people are buying. I think [support for Irish brands] peaked during the pandemic but it did really help me to develop a strong customer base – I have one customer who has bought almost every one of my headband designs since then.”
The designer, who is a member of The Council of Irish Fashion Designers and of Design & Crafts Council Ireland, says that having a physical boutique as well as an online store allows her to get great feedback from customers: “Every time that someone tries something on they’ll give me feedback or request certain features such as longer netting or a particular type of embellishment. Every comment I get from a customer helps me when I’m back at the drawing board creating new designs, so I am always in tune with what my customer is looking for.”
Currently in the process of a website redesign and brand refresh, Emily Jean has also been working hard on promoting her styling service and her range of accessories which includes jewellery and clutch bags.
“Over the years I have become known for styling people for special occasions, such as the races and weddings, so I decided to expand the range of products that I offer people in order to help them to put together full outfits. Some people will not know what they want or will ask for help with styling while others will have an idea of what they want and will be quite fashion forward but still want some advice,” she says of her customers. “Whether it’s an everyday piece or a piece for a wedding, I will offer people styling advice in terms of colours to accentuate their outfit, what accessories should be worn, complementary products that might work in terms of a clutch bag or earrings and so on.”
Emily Jean says that how people are shopping is certainly evolving. “Vintage is huge and hire has become huge for both weddings and the races. I previously didn’t hire my hats but for the past two years I have begun to hire them out,” she says.
“Last year the word spread and I was inundated with requests for hat hire. It’s great because my hats are normally at quite a high price point and hire makes them more attainable. It’s also better for the circular economy. And it’s not just hats that people are hiring – they’re also hiring their dresses and bags – particularly if they want to carry a high-end designer piece.”
Emily Jean says that she is happy to adapt a hat that a customer has previously purchased from her. “I had a woman last year who was attending the weddings of two of her daughters – one was a summer wedding in Portugal to which she wore a beautiful Maje dress – we designed a skull cap style piece with lots of beads and veiling that added height in subtle tones of gold, champagne and powder pink which worked beautifully with her dress. The customer came back and asked whether I could modify the hat for her other daughter’s Christmas wedding so we removed the netting, changed up some of the stones and went with a different coloured netting – it was terrific to modify the piece for both events.”
When it comes to style, Emily Jean’s customers have no shortage of it, but one thing they might need help with is choosing the right size and shape headpiece to suit them individually. Emily Jean says that hat lovers need to be careful when it comes to the size and scale of the piece they choose. “Taller people can go for a hat with a wider brim and a lot more going on. For shorter women I often recommend a taller hat – maybe something with a quill. I take spines of feathers and twist and dye them – these quills can be very effective – particularly on smaller women because they add height without being too heavy looking.”
In terms of trends for this season, Emily Jean believes that more and more people will embrace strong colour. “I think colour is going to be big news – yellows and chartreuse shades are coming through strongly at the fabric trade shows I’ve attended so far this year. Not everyone can wear these colours successfully, however, so for paler skin tones I think lemon and lavender tones will be great options.”
With a background in jewellery design and almost two decades in fashion and design, Emily Jean recently decided to add to her offering both in-store and online with bags, jewellery and other accessories including silk scarves.
“I eat, drink and breathe fashion and style and love the business of fashion,” she says. “I have a great appetite for styling. I think I ask the right questions when dealing with customers and I can translate that information into creating and curating beautiful accessories that suit both my customer and, crucially, the occasion they have in mind.”
Having studied jewellery design in the UK, and having worked in the industry for some time before branching into millinery, this Galway designer says that she’s going full circle with plans to design a jewellery collection of her own to complement her range.
“I plan to design my own range of jewellery – so with the accessories, there’s a lot more to come – as well as new ranges that will hopefully be available in stockists in Ireland and abroad,” she says. “I’m always trying to follow my passions – life is short and you really have to enjoy what you’re doing.”
Photography by @emilyjeanatelier and @ballerinafarm.
