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Running from September 4-7, the Dublin Fashion Festival, now in its fifth year, promised a series of events to engage the public in Dublin’s fashion scene. The number and variety of events has been increasing year on year, with 2014’s festival comprising outdoor fashion shows on Henry Street and Grafton Street, various style workshops being offered in stores across the city, opportunities to meet with designers, and a Creative Quarter fashion show, with the headline event being the Young Designer of the Year Award. While unable to compete with the likes of a Fashion Week in London or New York, the festival aims to be Dublin’s own celebration of its relationship with fashion and clothing, highlighting both Irish design and the international brands Dublin has to offer.

Overall, the festival seemed to try and balance mass appeal and accessibility with just a touch of the exclusivity that is one of the inevitable connotations of high fashion, a difficult and at times awkward marriage. While several of the events, such as the Young Designer of the Year Award — held in the Bank of Ireland in College Green — were invite-only, and thus reserved for Dublin’s fashion elite, the various on-street shows were open to everyone. Even these shows, however, suffered somewhat from the festival’s rather vague identity. For example, the Grafton Street shows featured the latest collections from Brown Thomas and the area’s high end retailers, but also looks from lower priced high street shops, which failed to stand up against the designer pieces, leading to an aesthetic inconsistency. Although the commercial benefit of showcasing all the stores that Dublin has to offer is obvious, and illustrates the organisers’ desire to make the festival inclusive, the result was just a little short of the mark. Nonetheless, events like this can only nurture and expand Dublin’s fashion community, which will inevitably lead to a stronger identity within Irish fashion in the future.