Adele De Bruyn Photography
The future of Irish fashion is already here
A new language of fashion is emerging. One that is distinctly Irish, deeply personal, and entirely forward-looking. Ireland Fashion Week is celebrating that new language this evening, by awarding three emerging designers a bursary to help take them to the next level.
The Ireland Fashion Week Student Bursary, created in partnership with Oatly, will be awarded this evening to three promising young designers: Oscar Canavan Doyle, Áine Doyle and Torin O’Neill. Each will receive €3,000 – a meaningful financial boost to ease the financial barriers that so often limit creative progression.
Here we hear from each of the designers about their work and what this award means to them.
Oscar Canavan Doyle: rewriting the rules of material
For Oscar Canavan Doyle, fashion begins with material.
While still in his second year at NCAD, he began experimenting with fish skin, not out of a desire to be sustainable, but out of curiosity. What followed was a textile that behaved unlike anything he had worked with before.
“It was durable, super lightweight and almost behaved like paper,” he says.
His work sits at the intersection of fashion, art and chemistry, a space he has carved out for himself through experimentation and instinct. Fish leather is just the beginning. Now, he is exploring liquid casting and bio-based materials, constantly pushing the boundaries of what a garment can be.
There is also a strong narrative thread running through his work. His Ireland Fashion Week piece, titled Delegation, imagined a dystopian Ireland cut off from imports and exports, where clothing is born entirely from what is available on the island.
“We are surrounded by fish… so why not,” he says, with a sense of play that feels integral to his practice. The balance of humour and innovation is really what makes his work so compelling. It doesn’t feel heavy, even when the ideas behind it are. He says, “My design voice is definitely rooted in what some may refer to as ‘goofy’. I really like to have fun with my designs; fashion isn’t to be taken overly seriously. It’s really all about personal identity at the end of the day, birds have their feathers but we get to choose ours and how lucky are we!”
Winning the bursary, he says, changes everything.
“I have little to no financial backing… now I know that I will be able to make exactly what I want, which is a freedom not everyone is so fortunate to have. That freedom is huge.”
Aine Doyle: softness, strength and a return to home
Where Oscar’s work begins with material, Aine Doyle’s begins with fabric and feeling.
Her designs are rooted in contrast. Harshness and softness. Structure and movement. Her Ireland Fashion Week piece captured this beautifully, pairing textured, slashed fabrics with a flowing, almost ethereal silhouette inspired by the movement of the sea.
“I wanted to contrast the ruggedness of the Irish landscape with something delicate,” she explains.
There is also a strong sense of place running through her work. As an Irish designer currently based in the UK, she finds herself continually drawn back to home. To Irish mythology. To history. To stories of women and power.
“My work tends to revolve around powerful Irish women,” she says. “Showing that anger and taking back power can still look delicate and beautiful.”
That tension, between strength and softness, feels like a really defining thread in her work.
Like many emerging designers, she is navigating that sometimes difficult space between creativity and commercial reality. The desire to express herself fully, while also building a sustainable career in an industry that can often prioritise sales over vision.
“The uncertainty is whether I’ll be able to create freely,” she says. “But I just hope I find my place.” The bursary offers respite from that uncertainty. “It allows me to focus on building a brand and really prioritising the quality of my work,” she says. “That wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
Torin O’Neill: designing from memory and meaning
For Torin O’Neill, each piece begins not with a trend or a brief, but with emotion or a memory.
“My designs are my story,” he says. “I want them to be felt, not just seen.”
His work is so rich with symbolism and storytelling. His Ireland Fashion Week piece drew on the Irish folklore of the Selkie, a figure caught between two worlds, with themes of transformation, belonging and identity.
“It’s about shedding old skins and returning to yourself,” he explains.
That idea of transformation runs through much of his work. His collections explore vulnerability, resilience and healing, often informed by his own experiences, including dyslexia, which he has reinterpreted not as a limitation, but as part of his creative identity.
“There is beauty left behind by what once broke us,” he says. “My work reflects those shared human experiences, through my designs, I reveal vulnerability, resilience and ultimately healing.”
Alongside this beauty is a strong commitment to craft. Hand techniques, traditional skills, and a belief that these should exist alongside modern, digital approaches in shaping the future of fashion. He says, “I have a particular passion for traditional skills like hand dyeing, pattern drafting by hand, applique and embroidery. I think it’s important to keep craftsmanship alive.”
Receiving the bursary feels, to him, like both recognition and responsibility.
“It has shown me that my work has a place… that my vision matters,” he says.
The Future of Fashion
What is clear, speaking to these three designers, is a new language of fashion that is emerging. One that is distinctly Irish, deeply personal, and entirely forward-looking.
The awards form part of Ireland Fashion Week’s wider commitment to fostering an industry built on knowledge, connections and capital, while recognising the cultural force and commercial potential of homegrown Irish talent. The future of Irish fashion is not only bright but worthy of direct investment, serious recognition, and collective support.
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