We’re an island full of creatives – especially when it comes to the fashion world – from the makers and creators to the models, photographers and stage designers. But for the first time ever, there’ll be a dedicated space for it all, as Ireland’s inaugural fashion week (IFW) will take place October 6th-10th.
The woman behind it, is Ashley McDonnell. The 31-year-old Galway girl has spent the last few years researching, networking and now, in just a few very short months, will – alongside a very small team- be putting on a showcase of over 57 designers, wrapping with a Paul Costelloe runway show in Dublin. Impressive to say the least, but after spending the last decade in Paris working with some of the biggest luxury brands across the globe it’s no surprise that this is the lady pushing for IFW. Following a gorgeous shoot in Paris where she’s based, we caught up with Ashley to hear more…
Ashley, how excited are you for Ireland Fashion Week (IFW) to kick off later this year?
Honestly, it’s been an absolutely incredible couple of weeks. The response has been so positive. I thought we’d really have to knock on the doors of designers and convince them to be part of this, but we’ve had the opposite as over 240 designers applied to feature in one of the seven fashion shows.
Can you tell us about any of them?
Paul Costelloe will have the finale of Ireland Fashion Week in an iconic location that we will reveal closer to the time. He’s such an incredible designer and creative mind, with over 20 years of London Fashion Weeks and decades of design behind him. Bringing someone like Paul Costelloe home to Dublin and supporting him with the production of a major show in Ireland will be a highlight of the week. Other solo shows include Rashhiiid by Rachel Maguire, whose pieces have been worn by major celebrities and artists like Doja Cat. For the contemporary show we’ll have Sinead Keary and for the modern heritage show, it will be Aoife McNamara. Of course as Ireland’s first BCorp fashion brand we wanted her setting to be one that brings attendees close to Ireland’s beautiful landscapes, so her show will be in Connemara. The mixed shows then include a graduate show of 40 designers and another of 10 established designers. Each will offer something completely different and represent Ireland and Irish design in a unique way. In total, 57 designers will see their designs on the seven different runways.
For a small nation, we’re packed full of creatives! How do you and the judges decide who’s featured?
That’s been the toughest part of this process, figuring out who we award the shows to. The average show production cost is €200,000 and on top of that, we’re giving €7.5 million worth of technology directly to the designers, so Ireland Fashion Week isn’t just about having a couple of shows – it’s much bigger than that. The objective is to boost the businesses of the selected designers, and give their brands all of the support they need before their show, during and afterwards too. We’ve had to look at all the applications very thoroughly because of this, but the talent has been exceptional.
Why do you think this hasn’t happened before now?
Most fashion weeks around the world don’t offer any financial, commercial or technological support for designers, everything has to be self-funded. I feel that this is the reason we didn’t have a major fashion week previously in Ireland because the funding and support wasn’t quite there.
So how is an event like this funded?
To kick off Ireland Fashion Week, I invested into the company. That unding was used to hire the team here in Dublin, with six amazing women and I’m the unpaid intern so to speak. In terms of financing the shows, we wanted to completely subsidise the graduate show so they don’t have to contribute anything. The designers doing solo shows contribute 10 per cent of the cost of shows, which in general doesn’t even cover the price of the venue, and the mixed designer show requires a 1 per cent contribution from designers. We have to bring a world class standard and that can’t be achieved on a low budget. We need to make sure we have the right partners and sponsors on board to allow us to produce shows to a certain level. The generosity of Irish business owners has been incredible, they understand the vision and want to be involved.
Having worked in Paris with luxury brands over the last few years, you mustn’t be any stranger to putting on events like this?
I’ve been in Paris for over ten years now and started off at a group called LVMH – they’re the biggest luxury group in the world. They own everything from Louis Vuitton to Dior and Dom Perignon so I really learned my craft there. I moved internally then to Dior after starting within the holding company, and I discovered very quickly what it means to be a world-class brand and how to host megastars at events and shows. For the last four years, I’ve been at a different group called PUIG, which is also an absolute powerhouse in the luxury world. We own brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Paco Rabanne, Carolina Herrera, Dries Van Noten and John Paul Gaultier. My understanding of luxury comes through the lens of the biggest brands in fashion and beauty, and I’m trying to bring all of these learnings to Irish brands.
So PUIG, that’s your day job, right?
Yes, I’m a Digital Director at PUIG. I’ve been with them for almost five years now. I started in their office in Switzerland in 2021 with a focus on digital, technology and e-commerce. Almost two years ago, they moved me to the HQ in Paris to take on a new role. I learn every day. It’s a high-pressure role and as a group, we exceeded €4.7 billion in sales last year. That’s the type of targets, budgets and brands I’m used to working with, so when I know that’s possible, I see the potential for Irish brands.
There’s obviously been a lot of graft and hard work to get to where you are now. Can you tell us what went on behind the scenes to get to this position?
Thanks for saying that, because I think a lot of people assume I had connections or a foot in the door, but honestly it wasn’t the case. I grew up in the west of Ireland, in rural Galway. I was always someone who loved fashion and design. When I was 16, I convinced my mum to go to London with me for the first time because I had read about a Christian Dior exhibition. I told my mum there and then that I was going to go to Paris and work for Dior one day. She didn’t discourage me. I arranged a French exchange and headed off to France for a month; I told the school my parents had organised it and told my parents the school organised it. Nobody really knew where I was going, but somehow it all worked out ok and I had a great experience. Then I went to business school there and did both my bachelors and my masters through French. During the first week of my masters at HEC Paris, a HR director from Dior was on campus and that man recruited me one year later for my role. It’s amazing how things work out. I work between 60-80 hours a week, so it’s not a walk in the park, but I absolutely love what I do!
How do you split your time between here and there? Is Paris where you see yourself based full time?
It’s quite the juggle now because I want to be as present as possible in Ireland in the lead up to Fashion Week. Luckily I have 40 days off a year with my French contract, and I’ve used every single one of those days to work on this. My goal is to hire a CEO for IFW within the next year, which I think it’ll be one of the most interesting jobs to have in Ireland – they’ll have such an impact on the future of the industry here!
And Tech Powered Luxury, tell us about your other baby.
It’s a podcast, an events company and a weekly newsletter – all around matching luxury and technology. It’s thanks to Tech Powered Luxury and those established connections that we were able to reach out to ask brands if they’d be able to do anything to help with IFW. Our tech fund has reached €7.5 million – meaning tech companies have given us that much worth of technology which we’ll provide directly to designers. The softwares are being used by everyone from Chanel to Hugo Boss and Gym Shark, and are great for trend forecasting, assisting with design, production, sustainability, social media and e-commerce.
With all these plates in the air, are you able to strike a work/ life balance or does that just simply not exist for you at the moment?
In general, I don’t work on the weekends, I’m pretty strict about that. In August, I’ll be on a horse trekking across a mountain range in Kyrgyzstan for a week! I’ll try to switch off. Plus, stepping back helps generate ideas.
Are you at your limit now, or are there any more plans on the horizon Ashley?
Believe it or not, there is! IFW is something I love and I’m passionate about, but if someone else had created it previously, I’d have been happy to simply help out. As a platform for a nationwide fashion week didn’t previously exist, I felt it was something that was needed and I could help build. However, it’s not my calling in life and I can’t wait to hire a CEO to push it to the next level. My real passion project is building my own group here in Ireland for luxury brands across fashion, beauty, spirits, jewellery and beyond. That’s been my focus for the last three years. I’ve been honing my craft for years now, the time is right to do it for Irish brands. I can see myself working on that for the next 50 years.