‘Do you hear that?”
Don O’Neill visibly lights up as he pauses to turn up Lyric FM, Lakmé’s Flower Duet flooding the living room.
Irish County Living is at Don and his husband Pascal’s home overlooking Ballyheigue beach, the coffee table set with thick cuts of brown bread, Folláin jam and Nicholas Mosse mugs painted with a fuchsia print; his late mother Mim’s favourite flower.
But Don – at that moment – is transported by the aria back to his time in Rome: then a fashion graduate with his portfolio in his backpack, wandering wide-eyed through an exhibition of Valentino’s signature red dresses.
“The Lakmé Flower Duet just playing in the background,” he smiles at the memory. “The draping and the chiffons and the embroidery … it was just heaven on earth.”
Indeed, so inspired was the younger – and more innocent Don – that he showed up at Maison Valentino looking for a job. The security guard was having none of it, sadly.
“All I could do was show him my CV,” says Don, laughing. “My address was Ballyheigue – where was I going? – and my phone number was my mother’s! So yeah, I never got the job with Valentino and on went my journey. But that memory will remain with me forever.”
Don, who has dressed celebrities including Taylor Swift, Oprah and Meghan Markle during his tenure as Creative Director of THEIA couture, has no shortage of such stories.
But today, we’re discussing his role as guest judge in TG4’s Síorstíl, a “revolutionary fashion competition” where seven designers are tasked with turning second-hand/recycled materials into fashion-forward masterpieces. Don is on hand as the contestants create a red-carpet look for the IFTAs, as well as returning for the final.
“Even though I’m a judge, I kind of shepherd them along,” he says. “It is the encouragement … and the bualadh bos.”
It’s Don’s second series of Síorstíl and despite his fashion credentials, he was “very intimidated” on his first day on set, having not spoken Irish since school. He “really wanted to make an effort” with the language and it’s clear how proud he is to be involved, not least given Síorstíl’s sustainability ethos.
Famously, one of Don’s first creations was a dress for his sister Deirdre, made out of a bed sheet, with Dynasty-style shoulder pads cut from an old car seat. He attributes this innate resourcefulness to his mother, who would buy designer pieces second-hand at garage sales run by a bank manager’s wife in Ballybunion, who sold on clothes from her well-heeled friends in Dublin.
“We had no money, but Mom looked a million dollars,” says Don, who recalls Mim returning home with “bin bags” full of treasures, from a silk-lined Ib Jorgensen tweed suit to a Jimmy Hourihan cape coat.
“So that would have all been in my sphere without me being overly [aware].”
Don now lives happily back home in Kerry. \ Dominick Walsh
Kerry to catwalk
Both Mim and Don’s father Donal, who ran a B&B, encouraged Don’s creativity; whether playing with Lego or dressing his sister’s Sindy doll in his mother’s silk scarves.
“Nobody batted an eyelid, ‘Like what’s he doing?’ or ‘Take that off him!’ or ‘Get out there and kick a ball,’” he says.
While Don initially studied art, he dropped out due to homesickness, instead training as a chef. He was working in Galway when he spotted a design competition offering a Michael Mortell suit as second prize.
“I thought, ‘If I could win that for Deirdre [his sister], it would be amazing,’” recalls Don.
Don didn’t get the suit; instead, winning first place, and a year’s tuition at the Barbara Burke School of Fashion. Awards led to internships, Dublin to London and then Paris, where he pitched up without a word of French.
“No plan, no direction, other than I wanted to work in fashion,” he recalls.
While working in restaurants, he went knocking on doors. Some slammed, others partially opened (after bluffing a meeting at Dior, he was advised to fling his London-influenced portfolio “in the Seine”, and return when it was redone, French style.)
But his persistence paid off, and a job working on costumes for the Opéra de Lyon (where he fell in love with his partner Pascal) led to an internship with Christian Lacroix. He took him under his wing after Don – in faltering French – reassured him when a family member was hospitalised with kidney stones.
“I said to Christian, ‘Don’t worry about that, my auntie had kidney stones,’” recalls Don, who reckons Lacroix saw him as “a breath of fresh air”, inviting him for dinner, and later, hand-writing letters of introduction to designers including Oscar De La Renta and Ralph Lauren when Don went to the US on a Morrison visa.
In New York, however, Don discovered Parisian haute couture “didn’t translate to 7th Avenue” and had to start again.
At Carmen Marc Valvo he climbed the rungs from assistant designer to design director, before being poached to lead the Badgley Mischka diffusion label. Then, in 2008, he was given the opportunity to create his own evening wear and bridal brand, named THEIA after the goddess of light.
He has great affection for country star, Carrie Underwood: the first celebrity to champion THEIA on the red carpet. Taylor Swift wore his ‘Starlight’ dress, dazzling with Swarovski chandelier crystals – with the images subsequently plastered on posters and merchandise for her ‘Speak Now’ tour. He dressed Oprah for the 2012 Oscars, while Meghan Markle wore a custom ivory gown on a 2018 royal tour.
“The celebrity stuff is like,” he pinches his fingers together, “this much.”
Don O’Neill and husband Pascal Guillermie, pictured at their home in Don’s native Ballyheigue, Co Kerry. \Domnick Walsh
Most of Don’s work was making collections for high-end stores like Neiman Marcus, where his greatest satisfaction was witnessing the joy his dresses brought his regular customers.
“People were like, ‘Oh my God, you dress women of all sizes’ and I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t you?’ But there were designers in New York that didn’t cut above a size 8 (size 12 Irish),” says Don, who loved to see how women’s own perceptions of themselves transformed trying on his designs.
“What was important was seeing that radiance from the inside.”
What people didn’t see was the ferocious work involved. Don was in the studio six days a week from 8am to 9pm, with constant pressure to perform.
“You’re only as good as your last dress,” he says, admitting he was a “nervous wreck”, always in fear the creative well would run dry.
Following his light
He recognises that he was burnt out when COVID-19 hit. Originally furloughed for three months, a decision by the company to restructure the label and take a different direction meant Don was out of work for the first time in decades.
But while the reprieve from the pressure was initially a relief, another challenge presented. Who was Don without THEIA?
“It was who I was. There was no separation. That was the really hard part, for both of us,” says Don, who attributes much of THEIA’s success to Pascal, who is always at his side.
While recovering, Don came home to Ballyheigue during the summer of 2021 and 2022. The plan was always to retire there eventually, but Pascal led the charge to make the move in 2023.
“If I was left to my own devices, I could still be sitting there, biting my nails,” says Don.
Irish Country Living asks if coming home has helped him heal? “It was, it is, a slow process,” he acknowledges. “There’s a lot of feasting on my memories, of going back to the well of what I did; but fortunately, because of who I was, or I guess, who I am, we have been very much in demand since we came home.”
As well as motivational speaking, Don sits on the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. He also joined the Rose of Tralee judging panel, and is a patron for Recovery Haven cancer support services, while supporting other charities. Anyone who knows him will attest to his kindness: recently, he donated a sketch of Taylor Swift – with a crystal from the Starlight dress – raising €13,000 for charity.
Family is everything, with his father and brother Patrick nearby at the B&B, and his sister, Deirdre, farming with her husband Eamonn on Kerry Head. (“They’re up to their eyeballs in calves at the moment!”)
This June, Don turns 60. He and Pascal are hoping to visit the Amalfi coast to celebrate. Longer-term, he plans to complete his memoir, which he started during COVID. But does he ever see himself returning to fashion design?
“I can’t say no,” replies Don. “But for now, I’m content.”
Watch Síorstíl Wednesdays at 8.30pm
on TG4.
‘Do you hear that?”
Don O’Neill visibly lights up as he pauses to turn up Lyric FM, Lakmé’s Flower Duet flooding the living room.
Irish County Living is at Don and his husband Pascal’s home overlooking Ballyheigue beach, the coffee table set with thick cuts of brown bread, Folláin jam and Nicholas Mosse mugs painted with a fuchsia print; his late mother Mim’s favourite flower.
But Don – at that moment – is transported by the aria back to his time in Rome: then a fashion graduate with his portfolio in his backpack, wandering wide-eyed through an exhibition of Valentino’s signature red dresses.
“The Lakmé Flower Duet just playing in the background,” he smiles at the memory. “The draping and the chiffons and the embroidery … it was just heaven on earth.”
Indeed, so inspired was the younger – and more innocent Don – that he showed up at Maison Valentino looking for a job. The security guard was having none of it, sadly.
“All I could do was show him my CV,” says Don, laughing. “My address was Ballyheigue – where was I going? – and my phone number was my mother’s! So yeah, I never got the job with Valentino and on went my journey. But that memory will remain with me forever.”
Don, who has dressed celebrities including Taylor Swift, Oprah and Meghan Markle during his tenure as Creative Director of THEIA couture, has no shortage of such stories.
But today, we’re discussing his role as guest judge in TG4’s Síorstíl, a “revolutionary fashion competition” where seven designers are tasked with turning second-hand/recycled materials into fashion-forward masterpieces. Don is on hand as the contestants create a red-carpet look for the IFTAs, as well as returning for the final.
“Even though I’m a judge, I kind of shepherd them along,” he says. “It is the encouragement … and the bualadh bos.”
It’s Don’s second series of Síorstíl and despite his fashion credentials, he was “very intimidated” on his first day on set, having not spoken Irish since school. He “really wanted to make an effort” with the language and it’s clear how proud he is to be involved, not least given Síorstíl’s sustainability ethos.
Famously, one of Don’s first creations was a dress for his sister Deirdre, made out of a bed sheet, with Dynasty-style shoulder pads cut from an old car seat. He attributes this innate resourcefulness to his mother, who would buy designer pieces second-hand at garage sales run by a bank manager’s wife in Ballybunion, who sold on clothes from her well-heeled friends in Dublin.
“We had no money, but Mom looked a million dollars,” says Don, who recalls Mim returning home with “bin bags” full of treasures, from a silk-lined Ib Jorgensen tweed suit to a Jimmy Hourihan cape coat.
“So that would have all been in my sphere without me being overly [aware].”
Don now lives happily back home in Kerry. \ Dominick Walsh
Kerry to catwalk
Both Mim and Don’s father Donal, who ran a B&B, encouraged Don’s creativity; whether playing with Lego or dressing his sister’s Sindy doll in his mother’s silk scarves.
“Nobody batted an eyelid, ‘Like what’s he doing?’ or ‘Take that off him!’ or ‘Get out there and kick a ball,’” he says.
While Don initially studied art, he dropped out due to homesickness, instead training as a chef. He was working in Galway when he spotted a design competition offering a Michael Mortell suit as second prize.
“I thought, ‘If I could win that for Deirdre [his sister], it would be amazing,’” recalls Don.
Don didn’t get the suit; instead, winning first place, and a year’s tuition at the Barbara Burke School of Fashion. Awards led to internships, Dublin to London and then Paris, where he pitched up without a word of French.
“No plan, no direction, other than I wanted to work in fashion,” he recalls.
While working in restaurants, he went knocking on doors. Some slammed, others partially opened (after bluffing a meeting at Dior, he was advised to fling his London-influenced portfolio “in the Seine”, and return when it was redone, French style.)
But his persistence paid off, and a job working on costumes for the Opéra de Lyon (where he fell in love with his partner Pascal) led to an internship with Christian Lacroix. He took him under his wing after Don – in faltering French – reassured him when a family member was hospitalised with kidney stones.
“I said to Christian, ‘Don’t worry about that, my auntie had kidney stones,’” recalls Don, who reckons Lacroix saw him as “a breath of fresh air”, inviting him for dinner, and later, hand-writing letters of introduction to designers including Oscar De La Renta and Ralph Lauren when Don went to the US on a Morrison visa.
In New York, however, Don discovered Parisian haute couture “didn’t translate to 7th Avenue” and had to start again.
At Carmen Marc Valvo he climbed the rungs from assistant designer to design director, before being poached to lead the Badgley Mischka diffusion label. Then, in 2008, he was given the opportunity to create his own evening wear and bridal brand, named THEIA after the goddess of light.
He has great affection for country star, Carrie Underwood: the first celebrity to champion THEIA on the red carpet. Taylor Swift wore his ‘Starlight’ dress, dazzling with Swarovski chandelier crystals – with the images subsequently plastered on posters and merchandise for her ‘Speak Now’ tour. He dressed Oprah for the 2012 Oscars, while Meghan Markle wore a custom ivory gown on a 2018 royal tour.
“The celebrity stuff is like,” he pinches his fingers together, “this much.”
Don O’Neill and husband Pascal Guillermie, pictured at their home in Don’s native Ballyheigue, Co Kerry. \Domnick Walsh
Most of Don’s work was making collections for high-end stores like Neiman Marcus, where his greatest satisfaction was witnessing the joy his dresses brought his regular customers.
“People were like, ‘Oh my God, you dress women of all sizes’ and I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t you?’ But there were designers in New York that didn’t cut above a size 8 (size 12 Irish),” says Don, who loved to see how women’s own perceptions of themselves transformed trying on his designs.
“What was important was seeing that radiance from the inside.”
What people didn’t see was the ferocious work involved. Don was in the studio six days a week from 8am to 9pm, with constant pressure to perform.
“You’re only as good as your last dress,” he says, admitting he was a “nervous wreck”, always in fear the creative well would run dry.
Following his light
He recognises that he was burnt out when COVID-19 hit. Originally furloughed for three months, a decision by the company to restructure the label and take a different direction meant Don was out of work for the first time in decades.
But while the reprieve from the pressure was initially a relief, another challenge presented. Who was Don without THEIA?
“It was who I was. There was no separation. That was the really hard part, for both of us,” says Don, who attributes much of THEIA’s success to Pascal, who is always at his side.
While recovering, Don came home to Ballyheigue during the summer of 2021 and 2022. The plan was always to retire there eventually, but Pascal led the charge to make the move in 2023.
“If I was left to my own devices, I could still be sitting there, biting my nails,” says Don.
Irish Country Living asks if coming home has helped him heal? “It was, it is, a slow process,” he acknowledges. “There’s a lot of feasting on my memories, of going back to the well of what I did; but fortunately, because of who I was, or I guess, who I am, we have been very much in demand since we came home.”
As well as motivational speaking, Don sits on the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. He also joined the Rose of Tralee judging panel, and is a patron for Recovery Haven cancer support services, while supporting other charities. Anyone who knows him will attest to his kindness: recently, he donated a sketch of Taylor Swift – with a crystal from the Starlight dress – raising €13,000 for charity.
Family is everything, with his father and brother Patrick nearby at the B&B, and his sister, Deirdre, farming with her husband Eamonn on Kerry Head. (“They’re up to their eyeballs in calves at the moment!”)
This June, Don turns 60. He and Pascal are hoping to visit the Amalfi coast to celebrate. Longer-term, he plans to complete his memoir, which he started during COVID. But does he ever see himself returning to fashion design?
“I can’t say no,” replies Don. “But for now, I’m content.”
Watch Síorstíl Wednesdays at 8.30pm
on TG4.
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