With the High Kings show featuring a new troupe of Irish male ballad singers about to hit the USA with a repertoire that revisits the era of the Clancy Brothers, Aran sweaters and all, we may be in for a bit of a renaissance on the knitwear front. If this happens, Joanne Hynes for one will not be unhappy.

As she told hotpress ahead of her Hot Looks shoot, “I’d love to do a collection of really forward looking knitwear, especially Irish knitwear. John Paul Gaultier is practically obsessed with all things Celtic, but we’ve nearly rejected all of the stuff he loves!”
Born in Galway, Joanne Hynes graduated in 2001 from the MA Womenswear Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins, London but her attitude has changed somewhat since those, perhaps naïve, days. “Like a lot of people, I suppose I started out somewhat arrogant, determined only to design the kind of clothes that I liked. But when you run a business you have to be more hard-nosed about it and accept that what the customer wants is far more important than your own desires,” she explains.
Inspiration for her unique designs can come from various sources. “Sometimes it can be a word or a fragment of music or an emotion. This year we moved our studio out into an area of industrial wasteland and that environment can be very inspirational if you leave yourself open to it. But sometimes you simply get a gut feeling about something and you have to have the confidence to go with it and see where it takes you,” she reckons.
Hynes’s career has been littered with notable successes. She made her debut with her first solo collection Rue de la Tristesse for 2004 and launched her label during London Fashion Week. She further developed her label with the introduction of a handbag and accessories range, and her gold leather bag was one of the bags of the season in Harpers & Queen. But asked to name her proudest moment to date in a busy life she plumps for something nearer to home. “In 2006, Brown Thomas awarded me with their Irish Designer of the Season award. To celebrate, the store and Moet threw an in-store party for the press and customers. That was very satisfying, both personally and from a business perspective,” she admits.
Sometimes she sees clothes on people that puzzle her. “I can’t understand why some people wear certain things that quite clearly don’t suit them, or mix clothes that don’t go well together. I see young Irish girls wearing jeans and Ugg boots and I wonder why. But then I have to remind myself that when I was 16 I probably wore some strange stuff too!”
Her designs have sold in Ireland, the UK, Japan, Dubai, Belgium elsewhere, while her celebrity roster includes Roisin Murphy, Natalie Imbruglia, ex-Sugababe Siobhan Donaghy, The Corrs and Zoë Ball. Supermodel Jacquetta Wheeler was actually chosen for the Harpers & Queen “Best Dressed” list wearing a Joanne Hynes dress. Now there’s glamour for you!
But another source of pleasure can come to her right out on the street. “A lot of well-known people wear my clothes, which is terrific, but I get a great warm feeling when I’m walking down the street and spot a total stranger wearing one of my designs,” she says.
Not surprisingly perhaps, she sees clothes as items that are more than merely functional. “I tend to view clothes as design objects, with a beauty in themselves irrespective of how you might wear them. Individual items of clothes can also hold memories for you of the various times you wore them, so I always feel it’s good to have something in your wardrobe that has been with you through lots of different times,” she believes.
Her favourite fashion era goes back a bit, to France in the 18th century when Marie-Antoinette was queen.
“I’m fascinated by that period around Marie-Antoinette. Some of it is awe-inspiring, even if some of is a bit over the top. But I also look back fondly on the days of designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga too.”
At the risk of attracting the attention of the Stereotype Police, she is probably the first woman I’ve met who hates shopping for clothes. “Yes, generally speaking I avoid clothes shops. The more time goes by the more I prefer to make and design my own clothes. The only real exception for me are shoes, which I buy.”
Asked to describe the qualities needed in a successful designer in what is a decidedly competitive market, the disarmingly frank Hynes answers, “You must have a thick skin. You have to be willing to work long and hard. You must have belief in your vision and trust your instincts.” Given the level of international success she has enjoyed to date, there must be something in that philosophy.

For further information about Joanne Hynes designs go to www.joannehynes.com