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HEMLINES GENERATION NEXT Paving fashion-forward p
aths since their pre-teens, three creative wunderkinds chat industry reinvention and the power of fresh perspectives words Amelia O’Mahony-Brady Exactly one year (and 12 issues) ago, I wrapped the first instalment of this fashion editorship; a spread I had tentatively commenced in a Porto apartment, punctuated by a five-hour road trip, and concluded once ensconced in central Madrid. Typing the final few paragraphs from a lacklustre hotel room, the creative thinkers I had chosen to spotlight were anything but: dynamic art directors and vibrant designers laid their accomplished portfolios bare, alongside fashion graduates with boundless ambition and promising collections to boot. At this stage, eleven years had passed since my nine-year-old, school-uniform-sporting self was first touched by fashion’s sheer spectacle – and with that, the splendour of its craftsmanship – but its recurrent effect, on me and many others, held true: a colourful portal through which to escape settings bereft of inspiration. This sartorial, visual sense of escapism isn’t a recent invention. Creative-director doyenne Grace Coddington, weathering an insular 1950s childhood in northwest Wales, would pore over copies of Vogue delivered three months out-of-date. Nevertheless, there is no doubting that digital progressions, for better or worse, have bolstered the means through which youthful crops of creatives can connect; exploring industries which, without such platforms, would be perched beyond their pubescent grasp. I began scribbling my first fashion commentaries aged thirteen, halfway into a two-year tenure at Italian middle school. I published blog posts on weekends and class-free afternoons, soaking up the sagacious prose of Tim Blanks (during his style.com roost) and the late Vogue Italia visionary Franca Sozzani. Paul McLauchlan (20) kickstarted his blog, the perennially-thriving Sanguine Style, at precisely the same age but, while my earliest entries were peppered by a rotating cast of emoticons, it’s hard to imagine his thoughtful writings ever blemished by smileys. Two years before Sanguine Style dawned, he began honing his skill-set by “offering commentary on what stars were wearing on the red carpets, inspired by Catherine Kallon’s Red Carpet Fashion Awards blog and Susie Lau’s Style Bubble. I think my first exposure to the world of fashion was through The Devil Wears Prada. But, subconsciously, it was probably something I picked up from my grandmother – she was a fantastic seamstress and knitter.” In both figurative and literal terms, McLauchlan began courting acclaim that stretched miles beyond his County Cork perch. Around the same time, a Galway-based Eoin Greally (20) was enjoying his first flirtations with fashion photography; consuming magazines á la Coddington, whilst plotting ways to supersede his fashion-free habitat. “I think I got my first camera when I was 12, for Christmas. Beforehand, I had stolen and broken my mum’s digital camera, which I had unsuccessfully tried to hide! Growing up in the rural West of Ireland, I didn’t have many things around me that were particularly fashionable to photograph. There were creative people around, but nobody I knew was deeply interested in fashion. I remember my career guidance counsellor in school saying she had never advised someone with my interests before.” An undeterred Greally launched into self-taught photography sessions, snapping any willing subject that crossed his path. “Because of the lack of subjects 20