The young Irish designer with the Midas touch

Designer Richard Malone is the latest Irish designer to be chosen for the prestigious Fashion East initiative. Some items from his AW15 collection are on sale at Brown Thomas as part of the CREATE initiative during the Year of Design ID15. Photos: Leon Farrell

Simone Rocha

thumbnail: Designer Richard Malone is the latest Irish designer to be chosen for the prestigious Fashion East initiative. Some items from his AW15 collection are on sale at Brown Thomas as part of the CREATE initiative during the Year of Design ID15. Photos: Leon Farrell
thumbnail: Simone Rocha
Bairbre Power

Irish fashion designer Richard Malone has done it again - picking up yet another coveted style accolade just a year after leaving college.

The 25-year-old from Ardcavan, Co Wexford, is one of three designers chosen this week by the legendary talent spotter, Lulu Kennedy, to be part of Fashion East, a prestigious initiative which nurtures emerging talent and puts the spotlight on fresh fashion names.

Now in its 15th year, Fashion East is a pioneering non-profit scheme to help young designers through the difficult early stages of their career and the former winners reads like a who's who of the fashion world.

Lulu and her team mentored young Irish designers Simone Rocha and JW Anderson - both of whom have gone on to build exciting international careers after early exposure and advice from Lulu.

Previous winners have included House of Holland, Gareth Pugh, Marios Schwab, Roksanda Ilincic and Meadham Kirchhoff so Richard is travelling in exceedingly good company.

He has been chosen along with Caitlin Price and This Is The Uniform to show his SS16 collection at London Fashion Week (LFW) next month, and will then take it to Paris to meet international buyers.

His clothes are currently stocked in Brown Thomas, where he has been part of its CREATE initiative.

Richard has turned heads not just with his distinctive personal style and his designs of ginghams in exaggerated shapes, but also for the number of awards he has won since graduating from Central Saint Martins.

He has scooped the hugely prestigious LVMH Grand Prix scholarship and, last May, Richard was the only fashion designer selected by the BBC as one of the most creative up- and-coming talents to watch as part of its Young Artists' Day initiative.

Thrilled to be chosen for Fashion East, Richard said he was delighted to do a presentation at LFW, with an installation in Soho where people can touch the clothes.

"Fashion East is a great platform because people take you seriously from the very beginning," said Richard.