Rebecca McCabe’s exploration of how our relationship with formal clothing has changed as a result of the pandemic has earned her one of the most valuable student prizes of the year.
he 22-year-old from Rochfortbridge in Co Westmeath has been awarded the prestigious NCAD Brown Thomas ‘Designer to Watch’ €4,000 bursary which identifies future talents and mentors them.
The post-pandemic state of fashion reveals an ongoing desire for casualisation. Rebecca explored a hybrid, with glam sportswear offering maximum useage, where comfort is key.
“I noticed over the course of the pandemic how people were reacting with their clothes and interacting with them, and that people were not really willing to sacrifice comfort any more for style,” says Rebecca.
Her ‘Pookie’ collection explores streetwear with elevated textures that could also be worn to a big event. Playing with textures, she explored pairings,mixing dressy with casual such as lycra with leather.
“It’s that idea that they are able to cross over, and create a much more transitional wardrobe which is very important so that you can get the most out of your pieces, and you can dress them up and down,” said Rebecca.
“I don’t even think it’s that we are leaving formal behind, I think it’s that we are creating a new hybrid between formal wear and a more casual way of dressing and what’s really coming through is the comfort. That’s something people want to keep while still looking quite glamorous. I think it leaves us with this new area to fill with clothes.
“It’s so acceptable now to wear trainers with a dress whereas it might not have been a couple of years ago. It is great because if you are comfortable, you will feel a lot more happy in yourself and you will be a lot more confident wearing the clothes,” said Rebecca.
The final year fashion design student at NCAD’s graduate collection was praised by the judges for its creativity and innovation and clever use of materials.
Rebecca created her own paper-effect fabric by bonding three layers including shot silk, vilene and an orange waterproof PU fabric which acts as the lining of her coat.
Silhouettes are oversized and two coats have laser cutting and feature macrame knotting technique as a form of connecting the garment together.
They were paired with two lycra looks including a cream bodycon dress with mesh paneling and a print she created with machine embroidery and a navy lycra unitard with bespoke print.
“I think they are quite adaptable pieces. I think the embroidery element added to the bottom of the cream lycra dress brings it up into more formal wear and you could wear it with heels or with trainers from day to day.
Exploring how our relationship with formal clothing has changed, Rebecca says “I think people found a really good balance between athleisure and more formal dress and it became more acceptable to wear more casual clothing to formal events .
You could see it at the MET Gala and loads of runway shows that athleisure was becoming a much more popular option and I thought it could be a new route to go down.”
Typical of the comfy-on-the-red carpet trend, she name checks the “gorgeous” outfit worn to the 2021 Met Gala look worn by Emma Emhoff.
The high profile model, fashion graduate and step daughter of the US Vice president, Kamala Harris wore with a a Stella McCartney red diamond mesh bodysuit and matching trousers and adidas by Stella McCartney trainers to the event themed ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.’
The Brown Thomas bursary offers a €4,000 cash, mentoring by executive as well as a place next month in the CREATE show in the Grafton Street store. Customers can see Rebecca’s oversized pieces with knotted rope threaded through holes she hand punched in a coat and jacket using a punch and a hammer.
Shelly Corkery, Fashion Buying Director, Brown Thomas Arnotts praised Rebecca’s collection as “absolutely outstanding”.
“There was extraordinary detail in her collection which made for such a beautiful contrast. I adored the way Rebecca pulled it all together especially when she expressed her sense of colour with her macramé on leather and also her oversized coat which is ultra-modern and very diverse.”
Previous winners of this ‘Designer to Watch’ bursary have included Laoise Carey from Co Tipperary who won in 2017 and now has her one eponymous label dedicated to sustainability in fashion, using everything from old linen curtains to lace doilies.
The 2020 winner, Una Curran, impressed with her collection inspired by bird flight patterns and the idea of modern surveillance while Aideen Gaynor won in 2016 with a collection inspired by the Haruki Murakami novel, End of the World.
