Fashion Interview: Holly Carpenter

HOW IT ALL STARTED

“I used to go to that disco, Baby Wes, and I would wear so much neon,” designer Holly Carpenter recalls. “Neon ra-ra skirts, really orange tan, bright leg warmers and ribbons in my hair. But then later, when I was Miss Ireland, I also wore a lot of very glitzy outfits that I look back on now thinking, ‘Oh god, it was too much!’ Just sequins all over me, glittery earrings, glittery lip-gloss, diamante shoes, diamantes in my hair – I was a walking disco ball! That was the pageant vibe I guess, but it’s so funny looking back. It wasn’t subtle, that’s for sure!”

Carpenter also went through that seemingly required phase of over-plucked eyebrows, lashings of fake tan and blue eyeshadow – a rite of passage that most women over the age of 20 all suffered through, with various levels of emotional trauma and incriminating photos to show for it. Now, however, girls have YouTube tutorials, lifestyle bloggers and social media make-up gurus to show them how to achieve a polished looking contour – a development that simply feels unfair, “We didn’t have anyone to tell us what the craic was, and now young women are so on point, it’s very intimidating,” Holly laughs.

A MODEL CITIZEN

Holly first entered a model search competition when she was 15, but it wasn’t until she was studying textiles in NCAD that she began considering modelling and pageants as a viable career option. Clearly, she was on the money. She was crowned Miss Ireland age 19, which became the catalyst for a hectic five-year modelling career, which allowed her to wear stunning clothes and travel widely. But her first ever modelling job did not exactly encapsulate the excitement and glamour that was to come. In a sense, it is an indication of just how far we have travelled here, in order to become the stylish nation of today.

“I had a photo call in a restaurant in town, and I had no clue what I was meant to be doing,” she reflects. “I arrived with no tan on, my hair in plaits, and I had no idea that a photo-call was meant to be sexy! They just looked at me and were like ‘No. No’. It might be different now, but back then we got thrown in at the deep end. No-one ever sat you down and said, ‘You need nude underwear and heels in your bag at all at times. Come to jobs looking like this’. I just had to watch the people I admired and try to figure out what they were doing.”

The photo-call was of course a distinctly Irish phenomenon, where Irish models were dressed up in bikinis or themed costumes to promote literally anything – sports drinks, a new TV schedule, football matches, new and improved crisp flavours. They were ridiculous and cheesy and the butt of many a joke – but Carpenter assures me that the models were laughing too. “I missed the boom of the photo-call,” she notes, “but I definitely got a year or two out of them before they started dying off. They were mad! I literally had to tell my agents ‘Tell them I’m not wearing a costume’, because I’d turn up to a job and they wouldn’t have given me a brief beforehand. Suddenly someone would be telling me, ‘Okay Holly, we have this really sexy chicken costume for you, and we’re going to throw all of these eggs up in the air, and you’re going to jump over this GAA player’s back!’

“You’re only 19 and can’t say no,” she recalls, “but then you see the photos and want to leave the country! To be honest, the models here in Ireland were the butt of so many jokes and we got slagged for the photo-calls so much – but we were also slagging each other just as much. We didn’t take ourselves too seriously. We’d swap photos and go ‘Look at the state of ya!’ A lot of us knew our friends would never understand what we were doing, so it was great getting to laugh amongst ourselves.” Overall, Carpenter found the Irish modelling industry fun and good-natured. She did a stint in London, however, and found it a much harsher, tougher atmosphere – starting with her experience competing on Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model in 2013.

“Elle MacPherson hated me!” she says. “I saw the show as an opportunity to get on TV, and I put a lot of pressure on myself. I was training twice a day and lost so much weight, and I had to keep the fact that I was on the show a secret, which was hard. But then Elle MacPherson was so rude, she really didn’t like me. Everyone is typecast on a reality TV show and I was ‘The Pageant Girl’, so she just kept telling me to take off all my make-up. “Then when I did she’d still say, ‘Oh you’re wearing so much make-up’. I was like ‘Elle, I’m on TV, I’m going to wear concealer!’ We just clashed. It was terrifying, because she was someone I really looked up to, but she was so scary! There was one fairytale photoshoot where Elle made all the other girls princesses – and I was cast as the evil witch! But people online saw the dynamic and were saying ‘Elle’s being weird with her.’”

THE RISE OF IRISH DESIGN

Holly Carpenter has now left the weird and wonderful world of modelling, but fans can still drool over her style on Instagram. She observes how influential social media has become in the fashion industry. Then again, she doesn’t envy new models the pressure thay are under to be social media stars.

“Before, it was all about how good you were at modelling,” says Holly. “But now it’s also about how many followers you have. One girl could walk in with the perfect brief, but another girl could come along with fifty thousand followers on Instagram, so the brand knows there’s added exposure. It’s a whole new world, and there’s a pressure on models to have side projects like a blog, or whatever, to boost their careers further. It’s mad to see the extent to which the industry has changed. It’s all happened so quickly.” Carpenter does appreciate how platforms like Instagram can popularise different looks and give fashion lovers some style inspiration from outside their immediate sartorial bubble. She reveals that before festivals, she’ll scope around on #FestivalFashion, or look at what some of her style icons are wearing – and she’s loving how Irish people are becoming braver in the outfits they’re rocking.

“Irish people are being bolder in their choices,” says Holly. “There’s more vintage and designer exchange stores where you can keep your look fresh and individual without breaking the bank. I love Roz Purcell’s style. She isn’t afraid to be a bit out there. Darren Kennedy has to be our most stylish man – he was that London edge to his style. I’m a high street girl – you can’t go wrong with Zara, and then Cos for the odd thing.” She also likes the opportunities afforded by the emergence of ‘pre-loved’ fashion stores, whether it is to hire or buy. “I go into places like the Designer Exchange on Dawson Street,” Holly adds, “because I love the freedom of being able to wear a great bag for a few months, then update my look with a different piece.

“I also love the thrift stores and vintage shops around Temple Bar like Lucy’s Lounge. You can find great pieces that no-one else has. But you have to be in the frame of mind for a rummage! I don’t like online shopping, I need to touch things and feel the fabric.” One of the most impressive changes in Ireland over the past five years is the emergence of a new generation of young Irish designers with real international potential. “I always keep an eye on the work of designers coming out of NCAD,” she riffs, “because they’re all so original and talented. I love Eamonn McGill, he’s so interesting and multi-talented. He does a lot of designing for drag queens in Ireland, but then also makes incredible gowns and bridal designs. He designed my dress for the Style Awards this year. He’s fantastic.”

DESIGNER CHIC

When it comes to beauty routines, Holly Carpenter is all about the prep. “I like being comfortable, but for big nights out I’ll prepare beforehand,” she says. “I’ll do a good skincare routine and practice my make-up, just to make sure that I’m confident on the night. And I ask for my friends’ opinion on my outfit – I’ll ask for the opinion of a girl, a straight guy and a gay guy, and if all three like it, I know I’m onto a winner!” Carpenter loves visiting Ceira Lambert – who is on the main street in Shankill – to get her hair done. She gets her make-up expertly applied at Callan and Co., in Ballsbridge; meanwhile visiting the Beacon Clinic for skincare means that she feels confident her skin is getting exactly the right treatments. But for now, she’s all about using accessories to amp up her style game – her own, in fact.

Carpenter is now the proud founder of Lovelift, a jewellery and handbag line that has been a lifetime in the making. “I always wanted to have a jewellery line,” she says, “so in NCAD I also specialised in ceramics, glass and metal. I loved accessories. And then over the past few years, I have been listening to business owners and entrepreneurs giving Ted Talks, and it really inspired me to get started. Lovelift is nearly a year old now, and the logo is of a balloon tattoo I have on my wrist, because it’s all about positivity and uplifting messages and self-love. I wanted to make sure it’s affordable for my young followers, so they can treat themselves. “We’ve just launched the handbag collection and I’m so happy with it. Being back on the creative side of things has been so much fun, and getting feedback from followers on the new designs and has been lovely. I’m getting an honest opinion from my target audience, so I have that collaborative relationship with them. It’s really exciting. “I’m bringing out robes soon, because I love wearing robes while getting ready. I think when you’re sitting in front of a mirror for a while, you can becomes quite self-critical, so the robes have ‘Love Yourself First’ written on them as a little self-love reminder. They’re coming out soon. I really hope people like them!”