Middle image by Karen Cox
Sinéad O’Dwyer: ‘Inclusivity is about the design process, not just representation’
Founder of the eponymous London-based womenswear brand, Sinéad O’Dwyer offers intentionally designed luxury garments for women and gender non-conforming femmes of all shapes and sizes.
Sinéad O’Dwyer is a London-based womenswear brand, founded in 2021 by Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer. Sinéad O’Dwyer offers intentionally designed luxury garments for women and gender non-conforming femmes of all shapes and sizes. Diverse bodies are central to the design process, from research and development to the final product.
Aesthetically characterised by a tension between a soft sensuality and an imposing toughness, the brand’s narratives are emotionally driven and personal. These stories are given further depth through projects that communicate the relationship to their community and models, collaborating extensively with photographer Sharna Osborne, stylist Ai Kamoshita and casting director Emma Matell.
Sinéad O’Dwyer has been showing at London Fashion Week as a recipient of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen since 2022 and was a 2023 British Fashion Council Foundation Award Nominee. The brand won the 2024 Zalando Visionary Award and last year was a 2025 LVMH Award Semi-Finalist. They have dressed models Alva Claire, Paloma Elsesser, Precious Lee, Lara Stone and Tess McMillan, musicians Kelsey-Lu, Arca, CMAT, Yseult, Cosha and Beth Ditto and most recently actress and comedian Meg Stalter.
Sinéad gives us an insight into the brand and design process below.
I’m from Offaly and my brand is based in London. It’s a womenswear brand and we’ve been showing at London Fashion Week for three years. We do a lot of shirting, a lot of pleated pieces, and a lot of pieces that combine techniques from lingerie with more ready-to-wear styles.
I care about designing across a broad range of sizes and body shapes. That’s really the core of what I do. For me, inclusivity in fashion means designing specifically for certain groups of people, rather than just including them in images. It’s about the design process, not just representation.
I think I decided that I wanted to be a designer when I was about 12. I was really interested in dance and then discovered that fashion had a similar relationship with the body. I was always making things, so fashion felt like it combined that with the body in a really natural way.
Cash flow is always the most difficult thing. Managing production is also one of the biggest challenges. Those two things are what I spend most of my time worrying about.
The best business advice I’ve gotten has been to never underprice pieces for wholesale.
Some of my favourite brands are Chopova Lowena, Standing Ground, and KNWLS. I love following The Kimbino online, she’s really funny and insightful. I also like Haute Le Mode.
The best fashion purchase I’ve made has been my mini belt culottes!
Proudest moment so far was being in the LVMH Prize semifinals, that was really cool. But actually, I think doing the Business of Fashion podcast was a proud moment. I haven’t listened back because that would be stressful, but I got a lot of feedback from friends and family that it came across really well. Public speaking isn’t really my forte, so I was proud that it went well, especially because it was my first podcast.
I want my brand to be remembered for changing how we view different bodies in the luxury space.
I find it hard to answer who I would most like to see in my designs, because there are so many people. I love Cate Blanchett, of course. I’d also love to dress Lena Dunham, I really respect her.
Photography courtesy of Sinéad O’Dwyer, @rankinarchive, @ottilielandmark, and Karen Cox.
As part of Irish Design Week, iSinéad O’Dwyer joined London-based writer and cultural commentator Anastasiia Fedorova in a searching dialogue about body politics, inclusive design, and the role of fashion as social change.
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