Cloghercove is a gender-less and timeless collection of luxury fashion fabrics. The Collection takes inspiration from Clogherhead, a small fishing village on the east coast of Ireland. With both myself and my mother having spent all of our childhood summers there, Clogherhead is a place steeped in tradition and nostalgia within my family. It is through the blending of these two themes that the narrative of the collection came from. Through reimagining Clogherhead through the haze of my childhood eyes, and taking direct inspiration from my own photography of the beach and the harbour, I wanted to create a highly saturated collection of 100% wool fabrics with provenance as an important element. Colour was the driving force behind my design process, with colour being integral in communicating the narrative of the collection. The colour palette was inspired by my own family photos and photography of Clogherhead. For my photography I focused on the elements of the village that are steeped in tradition such as the harbour and the beach. These visuals were then mixed with my childhood memories, which are clouded by nostalgia, to see Clogherhead through a haze of bright and saturated colours. I wanted the colours to reflect the carefree and joyous nature of my childhood summers spent there. Various technical weaving methods were also utilised to create colour, using things like colour and weave effects, and colour theory. I experimented with different colour combinations and proportions thoroughly, testing out different colour and weave combinations. I utilised double cloth weaving adding multiple blocks to create ‘patchwork' plaids, and further created various pieces featuring double cloth and colour and weave effects. Through these various techniques I designed a collection of vivid, bright plaids, designed to be gender-less and time-less for a bold individual. Designed for a fashion context, the collection of fabrics are meant to evoke a nostalgic feeling instantly transporting the wearer to a place of happiness. Cloghercove is a collection of bold chromatic modern tweed fabrics that captures the nostalgia of my childhood summers.
