Bringing Renaissance inspirations to Dublin

THE Gazette sat down with budding Dublin designer William Shannon Doyle (right) to talk about his degree collection, winning the River Island bursary, and why he intends to nurture Dublin’s fashion industry.
Having just finished his four years at NCAD, William’s degree collection is inspired by the people of the Harlem Renaissance.
He says: “I was inspired by the photographer, Aaron Siskind. He had a lot of images of working-class people in New York.
“I liked his photos of people at work and was particularly inspired by an image of a butcher, so I used the apron as a starting point and mixed it with tailored items to get new shapes from old classic garments.”
The 22-year-old Templeogue native spent some time in New York doing an internship with designer Charles Warren.
While he was there, he visited a photographic exhibition by Jacob Laurence. He says: “One of the main things I took from the exhibition was the colour story – the yellows, corals and greens that run throughout the collection.”
The look book for the collection (shots shown above) was shot in a house on Henrietta Street where television productions such as Penny Dreadful are shot. The background was intended to imitate the derelict housing captured by Siskind in his photography.
William will be travelling to London in September to being working with River Island for three months, but it could be for longer.
While he wants to go back to New York after London, William is certain that Dublin will be where he is based in the future.
He says: “My ultimate end goal is to work as a designer, but to be based in Dublin.
“I feel that the fashion industry in Dublin is really starting to grow and that’s really exciting.
“A lot of our most talented designers move to New York and London and I feel like if those people would have stayed, we would have grown here. We’re almost not giving Dublin a chance.”