Alex D’Paula

Brazilian designer Alex D’Paula has been based in Ireland for some time now. Since he arrved, he has willingly embraced both our love of poetry and the growing infatuation we have with innovative design.

A graduate of the National Tailoring Academy, D’Paula is a natural magpie. He looks for inspiration everywhere – from his Brazilian background, his family members, and even from modern architecture. His work is grounded in the development of new shapes, but he also believes that clothes have a meaning and are not just for dressing in.

As a womenswear designer, D’Paula knows what collection development entails: his work encompasses ready-to-wear, evening-wear, knitwear, and bespoke items, and each collection has a unique story.

His debut collection was hugely sexy and impressive with brilliantly stark use of white, red and black. In contrast, ‘Légèreté’ was a lightweight, ultra-feminine experience in romantic florals, exuding freshness and youthful naiveté.

And what of his latest collection, ‘Make Me Tailor’? “This is a collection that expresses my transition,” D’Paula says, “my change into a matured and more complete designer and human being. My work has always been an expression of my feelings and sentiment in relation to the world as a whole or to one or more individuals. That is something that will always remain, while my aesthetic develops.”

Explaining the inspiration of the new collection, D’Paula says he looked to old, worn tailoring books for both the palette of his collection and the unique details on his pieces, which have a semi-structured, deconstructed appearance that is utterly modern and very high-fashion.

“Here, the word ‘tailor’ surpasses the idea of a professional that makes clothes to fit individual customers with unique and antique skill sets,” he explains. “Instead, it brings the idea of adaptability: tailor myself and others to an entire new life, country, experience and a whole new me. These pieces are adaptable, versatile, detachable. You can tie it up, release, reverse, combine, layer, add or remove.”

The collection also features a blend of print and embroidery, while the exclusive rose patterns represent the natural course of nature and beauty. Special accessories developed in wood hints at durability, even while everything around is transformed.