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Laura Whitmore


By Bill O'Sullivan
26th Jul 2013
Laura Whitmore

Laura Whitmore

Undoubtedly one of our slickest exports, Laura Whitmore was in town yesterday to launch the Dublin Fashion Festival, which will be running from September 5th to the 8th. The TV presenter was thrilled to be back in her native Dublin to promote the growing fashion sensibility of the city. We caught up with her to have a quick chat about unexpected purchases, and the relationship between fashion and fame.

One always notices with younger celebrities whose fashion sense seems to pick up the pace as their fame grows. Is that the case for you??Yeah, it’s weird – the more shows you do, the more clothes you get offered to wear. Which is good as well. People look at me and think ?God you must have so many clothes?, but the times you see me pictured are at events, or a London Fashion Show, when a designer has lent me clothes. It’s great now I can borrow these amazing clothes which wouldn’t have been possible when I first started out. So it does come hand in hand with fame in a way. Still, it’s funny when someone talks about you and the first thing they talk about is what you’re wearing.

How do you deal with getting papped now? Has it changed how you dress when you go out??Yeah, that’s something that’s a bit weird. Last night even I got papped going for dinner. It does change how you think about clothes. But I probably spent more time worrying about outfits when I was 19 or 20 living in Dublin and going out with the girls. When you live in London you don’t have time. I spend about twenty minutes getting ready now. I don’t care as much now. Style-wise I even think it works – slightly messy hair, faded make-up that you touch up, I don’t know, it works. Now when I get pictured it’s not such a big deal – as long as you manage to get into a taxi in a nice way and as long as a photographer doesn’t push you it’s all ok.

Dublin Fashion Festival – why is it important to have an event like this in Dublin??Dublin is my home and is very close to my heart. I’ve always been very interested in fashion, especially in the last two years I’ve become more fashion conscious. Fashion and shopping has evolved so much in Dublin over the past few years; there are so many shops and brands that didn’t exist a few years ago. And it’s also about the buzz in the city centre, that experience – I love walking down Grafton Street around Christmas time for instance.

Last good purchase??I’m going to my friend’s wedding in August in Cannes and apparently it’s quite fancy, and I didn’t really realize it would be! Anyway I was in Heathrow Airport over the weekend and Zara were having an amazing a sale and I bought? a dress for 24 quid – 1960’s style, really light pink, that Chanel sort-of look.

Make-up rituals??I have basic things, like a good moisturizer, something like REN or Ponds, if you don’t have a good base it’s going to fall off specially if you’re out all day. A bit of spritz too, like the one with Evian water in it – if you put a bit of that on before you put your make-up on it always helps to make you look really good as it freshens the skin. And for face make-up I go with Clinique or Lancome.?

Dublin Fashion Festival in association with Samsung is presented by DublinTown.ie

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Roisin Agnew @Roxeenna?