Victoria G. L. Brunton looks to the archives of Róisín Pierce, discovering zero-waste collections inspired by Ireland’s struggle for independence, the women of the Magdalene Laundries, and feminist censorship.
Dublin-born, Galway-raised designer Róisín Pierce finds inspiration for her collections within Irish history, making consistently poignant references to the difficult relationships between religion, femininity and womanhood.
Since her very first collection, Pierce has embraced an all-white aesthetic – a tribute to the whitework embroidery of the Magdelene Laundries – and her technique has been informed by traditional Irish craft.
By contemporising traditional methods with sustainable innovation, she continues to enrich our heritage, while keeping artisanal skills alive in each piece that she creates.
As well as being named as a finalist for the 2022 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, she received the Chanel Prix des Métiers d'Art's inaugural award for her sustainably-minded designs in 2019, as well as the Prix du Public for her premier collection at the Hyères Festival.
2024: O Lovely One, Fallen From a Star
After becoming the first independent designer from the Republic of Ireland to debut their namesake label at Paris Fashion Week last year, Róisín Pierce returned to the birthplace of high fashion to present her most recent collection this month.
Her venue of choice? The Irish Embassy.
O Lovely One, Fallen From a Star is a physical interpretation of an original poem Pierce wrote with poet Michelle Freya, that was based on Irish poet Dora Sigerson Shorter's The Star – an elegy for the Irish nationalist leader Padraig Pearse, envisioning the process of his death by execution and ascendance to heaven.
A strikingly romantic line-up, intricately handcrafted crochet and undulating lace looks floated down the runway in an almost ghostly fashion.
For the first time, Pierce's all-white aesthetic is interrupted with inky blue garments, furthering the otherworldliness in the collection with a sense of duality: light and dark, air and water, peace and anger.
Each consciously designed piece intended to be a visual representation of what an angel might look like, should it find itself on earth, so you'll notice bounds of ribbon, layers of organza, handcrafted florets and knitted latticework – some of which elements are executed by Pierce’s mother Angela, who she works closely with on all creations.
In an interview with Vogue, Pierce said: "I wanted to provide a message of hope and protection, which is a reaction to what is happening around the world. That’s the underlying theme."
2023: Beware, Beware
Pierce’s first presentation, Beware, Beware showcased the designer’s frothy white dresses stitched with ruffling, ruching, and crochet, buoyantly bobbing down the catwalk in a swelling and sweeping motions.
The inspiration for this line-up comes from the history of censorship and gatekeeping of knowledge from women, with specific focus on the Irish Free State's Committee on Evil Literature: a committee set up to investigate the censorship of printed matter that found feminist books and educational material on women’s health and reproductive to be "obscene", banning them from being printed.
As is typical for Pierce, Beware, Beware also possesses its share of poetic references, including a visual response to Sylvia Plath’s Lady Lazarus – an intense inquisition into death and rebirth.
Celebrating the women that harness dichotomies to make progressive new visions of themselves and the world, it is a retelling and magnification of words previously silenced.
Using zero-waste, next-generation methods of production and fabric manipulation, Pierce revives traditional techniques viewed historically as ‘women’s work’ – within which Irish wildflowers reappear, woven into textiles.
Speaking to The Face, Pierce said "I felt a responsibility to tell the story, which was driven by anger, really; Irish women have experienced so much misfortune, and I knew I couldn’t just ignore it."
2022: Two For Joy
A breath of fresh air between some of her more intense collections, in terms of both subject matter and design technique, Two For Joy balances texture with the soft sheen of satin paneling, allowing embroidery, gathered squares and dimensional patchwork techniques to take centre stage.
Telling a sentimental story, Pierce looked to her childhood as a more light-hearted source of Irish cultural inspiration when creating this collection. The joyful, nostalgic line-up takes its name from the magpie-counting nursery rhyme One For Sorrow – the second line being "two for joy".
The designer recalls sun-lit memories from her early childhood where she recites the rhyme, counting the birds amidst luscious, green fields in Galway. Pierce cites this precious, treasure trove of memories, unearthed during lockdown, as some of her earliest moments in creative discovery.
2020: Bláthanna Fiáin
Bláthanna Fiáin or 'Wild Flowers' was Pierce’s first collection produced post-winning Chanel Métiers d’art Prize.
A continuation of her first collection, Mná i Bláth, the inspiration behind Bláthanna Fiáin was the women of the Laundries who had children out of wedlock.
Often labelled as promiscuous, rogue or tainted, Pierce intends to revisit the reputations of these women, reinventing them as they should have been perceived: fun, frivolous, youthful and vivacious, through her use of considered form and playful texture.
Of course, floral symbolism prevails, this time referencing the euphemistic ways in which female sexuality is and was expressed and repressed in Ireland.
Constructive techniques continue this floral motif, with bodices covered in petals and little floral buds peeking through intricate embroidered seams.
2019: Mná ì bhláth
The collection that won Pierce her Chanel Métiers d’art Prize, Mná ì bhláth or ‘Women in Bloom’ boasted elaborate fabric sculptures and architectural headpieces created in collaboration one of Chanel’s revered ateliers, Maison Michel.
Despite its beauty, there is a sinister narrative beneath the collection’s surface tying to the Magdalene Laundries. Having only closed in 1996, these Church-run institutions have left an indelible mark on the country and its people.
Intended for so-called ‘fallen’ women (those who found themselves pregnant out of wedlock), thousands of young Irish women were incarcerated in these Laundries throughout the 20th century.
Fueled by anger and determination, Pierce aims to humanise these women through this collection. A fusion of purity, religious iconography and experimental silhouettes, Mná ì bhláth was no easy feat.
Its creation was discussed with a panel of jurors where the young designer was obliged to revisit and re-tell traumatic stories, engaging with difficult conversations and breathing life into the departed spirits who she seeks to empower.
From the very start of her blossoming career, Róisín Pierce has illustrated a unique ability to employ the distinctly feminine power of finding the magnificent within the macabre. Her work is proof, if evidence were needed, that fashion can be used as an impactful tool to convey difficult and dark messages through creativity.
She is indisputably one to watch.
