What to expect from this year’s Dublin Independent Fashion Week

Dublin Independent Fashion Week launched in October of last year. Where did the idea come from, and how did you get it off the ground?

Dublin Independent Fashion Week (DIFW) began as a conversation between a group of friends. We all run fashion and accessory brands and met through the Trinity Fashion Show in early 2023. In the absence of an official Fashion Week in Ireland, we decided to create the opportunity for designers to showcase their work here in Dublin.

We launched DIFW to provide a platform for both emerging and established talents in Irish fashion to showcase their work to both a national and international audience. We started by forming a committee, which consists of seven designers: Laoise Carey, Sarah Carroll Kelly, Aisling Duffy, Ríon Hannora, Mihai Mar, Megan McGuigan and Sarah O’Neill.

For DIFW 2023, we chose to hold our fashion week at The Chocolate Factory in Dublin. We wanted the showcase to be like that of designers at Dover Street Market, where each designer creates an immersive space so that visitors have the experience of stepping into the world of each designer.

The committee worked together with members taking on specific responsibilities such as booking the venue, curating a fashion show, seeking sponsorship, media communications, marketing the event, and setting out a structure for the weekend. As we did not secure any sponsorship in 2023, the event was fully self-funded by the founding committee members. We worked with Trinity Fashion Society to organise the fashion show, and Sweartaker PR to put together our list of attendees.

The event launch was so well received—the demand for tickets was incredible!—and the fashion show sold out almost immediately! This year for DIFW 2024, our second fashion week, we have expanded the line-up, with 20+ designers participating, and have satellite events taking place all week in various locations around Dublin from 11-17 November 2024.

While last year’s event was entirely self-funded, we are delighted that this year’s Irish Design Showroom in Smock Alley Theatre is part-funded by the Design & Crafts Council Ireland. The two-day event will go live in conjunction with this year’s Irish Design Week.

Why is community support and collaboration such an important aspect of working as a designer?

We all run small independent businesses. For each of us, this involves a huge time commitment, with long hours and undefined working schedules to manage all aspects of a business. Working these long hours, often alone, can be isolating. One of the goals of DIFW is to create a space for fashion, jewellery and accessory designers to showcase their work within a supportive community of Irish designers.

We aim to support each other and provide a space where designers can ask each other questions, offer advice, recommend fashion industry contacts, and ultimately hold each other up.

Do you have any advice for anything who may be interested in starting their own initiative around Ireland?

I think it’s important to understand why you want to start up a new venture, what it is you are setting out to achieve and to see if anything already exists in that space. It really helps to build a community of like-minded and more experienced people who offer some support and advice to help you achieve your goals, especially in the start-up phase. It will require a huge amount of work and dedication — make sure you are passionate about your initiative!

What were some highlights of the inaugural event?

Highlights included the evening launch with a fashion show showcasing each designer’s new collections — PJ Kirby hosted the launch and brought a great energy to the night. We included a dance performance with each dancer styled in our designs. DIFW 2023 was also successful in providing a space for stylists, photographers, models, content creators and fashion industry professionals to meet, connect and network.

DIFW 2023 was so well received — we were blown away by the response and demand for tickets and the desire to be part of it. For us as organisers, it confirmed the need for an annual Fashion Week in Dublin, and gave us the determination to grow year on year!

What can we look forward to this year?

Attendees will experience a week of fashion celebrating the amazing talent of designers based in Ireland. Our vision for DIFW 2024 is to elevate and expand on last year’s experience. We have an expanded line-up of more than 20 designers and have added on events taking place in various locations around Dublin from 11-17 November.

Expect to attend new collection presentations at Fade Street Studios and satellite fashion events throughout the week. On Saturday, November 16, attendees will have the opportunity to meet and shop at our Irish Design Showroom in Smock Alley. There you will find many designers showcasing their work, with each brand curating their own immersive space, welcoming visitors into their world. DIFW will debut a new feature this year—‘Ones to Watch’—featuring six emerging talents on the cusp of breaking through.

Tell us about the space where the events will be held.

The fashion week will kick off with a running order of designer presentations at Fade Street Studios. It will culminate with our Smock Alley event, in the banquet hall, a two-day Irish Design Showroom curated for the fashion industry and open to the public. When we were deciding on our venue for 2024, location and natural light were important to us. The banquet hall at Smock Alley is a beautiful historic venue in Temple Bar, with impressive stained-glass windows and a high-rise ornate ceiling.

We also wanted a venue that was large enough to align with our ambitions for DIFW 2024, showcasing double the number of designers as last year in an iconic and beautiful setting. Fade Street Studios is also full of natural light, another excellent location where we will be holding several fashion shows and presentations during the fashion week.

Find a full list of events running as part of Dublin Independent Fashion Week here.