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Designer Caroline Leahy crochets some of the most original, stylish and sexy clothes on the market.
If you still associate knitting with the drudgery of plain and purl in primary school, then you're due a visit to Caroline Leahy's studio outside the village of Causeway in North Kerry.
From gypsy belly tops to full-length wedding gowns, it seems there is no garment the designer can't create through crochet. Wardrobes burst with silks and slips overlaid with complex crochet webs in glittering lurex and viscose yarns.
Inspiration comes from everything, from the Valentino catwalk to the colourful combinations in a potpourri bowl. Hand-dyed in every shade, from sea green to fiery fuchsia, the devil is in the detail: a Celtic cross at the nape of a wedding gown, a hand-painted butterfly at the hem, a peacock feather trim.
Still think that knitwear is just for The Clancy Brothers? Think again.
Caroline Leahy was once described as the best model of her own clothes. Indeed, slim, elegant and yet earthy, with an unmistakable North Kerry lilt, the Causeway designer and mother of two is certainly a walking advertisement for Irish knitwear.
Like many Irish children, Caroline learnt to knit and crochet at school, but it wasn't until she took redundancy from her factory job in Tralee in 1990 to stay at home with her baby son that her hobby became a business. While the initial mainstays were baggy sweaters and school jumpers, Caroline soon saw a niche for tailored occasional wear.
"Back then, you had sweaters that were three sizes too big for you, which you wore with a little mini skirt, and that was the thing I used to do," she laughs. "But then I designed one or two things for weddings and they sold straight away. When I showed them in a fashion show, women came backstage and bought them immediately, so I decided to diversify into occasion wear."
It was the right decision. In the last 10 years, Caroline's creations have made it to the finals of The Late Late Show fashion awards, received the patronage of style queens Jackie Lavin and Celia Holman Lee and been worn by Kerry Roses to dazzle in their TV interview.
While her clothes might feature in celebrity spreads in VIP, Caroline's greatest response comes from programmes like Nationwide and doing the rounds of local fashion shows. Rural Irish women have no qualms anymore about spending money on something special to look and feel fabulous.
"You can't compare it to something on the high street," Caroline explains. "You might go all the way to Donegal and buy an outfit for a special occasion and someone else might go to Waterford, but the two of you could turn up in the same dress. At least if you're getting a crocheted outfit, you're not going to meet another one the same. Every woman puts her own stamp on it."
Most of Caroline's work is wedding-related, be it the bridal gown or the mother of the bride outfit. She says that crochet appeals to women who want to avoid the meringue look on their big day.
"With bridal wear, it's mostly girls who would be looking for something unique and don't want the traditional bridal look, but don't want to diversify too much away from it either, so the crochet work is ideal," Caroline explains.
"They like simple silks and boned dresses, and the crochet goes over that. They'd go for gold, silver or blues and hand painting. It's actually very rare I get to make a white wedding dress now.
"Brides will nearly always come back and get the dresses altered afterwards. If a girl gets a dress boned, she'll come back and get an ordinary silk slip under it, shorten or even dye it. That way they get to wear their dress again, which I think is very important, rather than putting it away never again to see the light of day."
Another advantage of crochet is that one doesn't have to be super skinny to carry it off crochet. While traditional knitwear certainly adds bulk to a frame, Caroline says crochet will flatter any figure, including the plus sizes.
"Women have this notion in their head that you have to be tall and slim to wear crochet work. I don't agree. I can go up to any size," she explains.
"I had one bride a few years ago who told me she was going off to New York to buy her dress off Yves Saint Laurent. She was dragged here by her mom to look at the crochet work - and she went with me.
"She was a plus-size girl and actually cried the day she came to collect the dress, because she felt she'd never get anything to suit her. Sizes don't come into the equation; it's more about body shape."
While a dress can take up to two weeks to make, there is an average waiting list of three months from the first to final fitting, due to the painstaking nature of the work.
Caroline has two local women crocheting with her to get through the backlog. And while people - or, should we say, grooms - might balk at the word "handmade", with all its monetary connotations, the reality is somewhat more pocket-friendly. Depending on the detail a customer desires, an average dress starts at about €800, while a wedding dress will cost €1,100-€1,200 upwards.
Ten years ago, you probably would have had to go to Dublin or Cork City for such services; today, style has no boundaries. Caroline happily works from her home outside the village of Causeway and the customers come in their droves. It has been a conscious "lifestyle choice" for the designer, especially with husband Monty and teenage sons Jason (17) and Sean (13) to consider. "I could rent a premises somewhere and run a little factory, but this is a lifestyle choice," Caroline explains.
Self-taught in knitting, Caroline has been in business for almost 20 years as a professional designer. For those who already have the skill and might be interested in pursuing it as a career, she says the most important thing is to offer something different.
"You want to be unique, but you want to be marketable as well," she advises. "What you need is women who appreciate the amount of work that has gone into the outfit and so understand why it costs so much."
Given the amount of work that goes into a crocheted piece, it can be difficult for Caroline to find the time to make clothes for herself. But she does admit to forming an attachment to the labours of love that will be somebody's wedding gown, Communion outfit or ladies' day dress.
"Sometimes you can be very lonesome when you see an outfit going out the door," Caroline says. "But you get over it fairly quickly when the girl hands you the cheque."