Galway fashion graduate to dress Oscar nominee

Date Published: 18-Feb-2013

A fashion design graduate from the Galway Technical Institute will dress Oscar nominee Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly for the 85th Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

The commission for Laura-Jayne Halton came about as a result of an interview with the Irish producer on RTE 1’s John Murray show last month, where she spoke about her Oscar-nominated Best Short Animated Film, Head Over Heels, and her desire to wear an Irish dress on the red carpet.

Laura Jayne – who also studied furniture design & manufacture in Letterfrack – was listening to the interview and heard the West Kerry native say she hadn’t settled on a dress yet.

“I looked up Fodhla’s email address and just sent her a quick paragraph to congratulate her first and sent her a link to my website and ‘Look Book’ and if she liked what she was looking at, to get in contact,” says Laura Jayne

The Maynooth native was very surprised to find an email half an hour later from Cronin O’Reillys London-based stylist, Selina Mills, to say that she absolutely loved her work.

“They said ‘could you do up a few sketches?’ and I did that and sent it off. By 8.30am the next morning, Selina Mills was on the phone to say ‘these are exquisite and we’d be delighted to have you as the designer’.”

A week of sleepless nights followed for Laura Jayne as she embarked on the task of making a couture gown in five days in order to have it ready for Fodhla’s departure for Los Angeles.

Laura Jayne is keeping mum on the dress Fodhla will be wearing on Sunday night.

“It’s such a wonderful occasion it’s nice to keep an element of mystery and suspense about it”, says Laura Jayne.

She does reveal that “it’s very classic and feminine, it’s an approach I take with all of my design and it suits Fodhla down to a T, well hopefully!”

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel