Hallowed Halls of Discovery

While ordering my coffee this morning, I spotted last year’s Fashion Show director Rob Kenny who I quickly accosted. I wanted to ask him about Mary-Kate Murray, one of the models participating in the show this year. Was it true that Mary-Kate was discovered by Rob walking through the halls of DIT after a lecture?

Rob, who is acting as a mentor this year, confirmed that was exactly how he discovered Mary-Kate. “With her strong bone structure, elongated legs and long hair, she is exactly the kind of model I could imagine on a runway in Milan” stated Rob.  High praise indeed for Mary-Kate, who has never modelled before. 

Having spoken to Mary-Kate at the model’s rehearsal this week, she informed me that she is excited about the Show and naturally, looking forward to seeing the garments! Plus, she says she has met a great group of people in her fellow models. 

Mary-Kate is pictured below with another one of our models, the dashing David O’Boyle. 

The Time is Nigh!

“Rectangle…now, triangle”. No people, I wasn’t sitting in maths class trying to solve Pythagoras’ theorem, I was listening to the Vodafone DIT Fashion Show choreographer and mentor, Shireen McDonagh, give instructions to our models at their rehearsal last night. April 17 is fast approaching and I took this opportunity to talk to Shireen about what she expects of the models participating in the show.

“Dedication and understanding they are part of a team is essential” she commented. Acknowledging that it can of course be difficult for the models to meet up all the time, Shireen particularly admires the “level of commitment” displayed by our models in this year’s show. Rehearsals started as early as December, and Shireen emphasised the importance of the models getting to know each other so as to enable them to develop confidence and feel comfortable with one another.

This is Shireen’s fifth year working with the show as choreographer and mentor.  With each year that passes, she finds that the standard and willingness of the models improves. Given that quite a few of our models have been signed up by agencies, Shireen believes that this show gives a good grounding for any future shows they may participate in. 

The best part of all is that Shireen says she has never come across a “friendlier or nicer group of people”. 

So, it appears that it's not all glamour, but actually a lot of hard work too!