Age is just a number
Give me Helen Mirren's refusal to 'age gracefully' over the tech bros who refuse to age at all
,' August 2nd) reminded me how attitudes to being and getting older change as we do.
Young children often yearn for time to pass more quickly. Being a bit older may bring respect. Recently I overheard my six-year-old nephew taunt his older sister, commenting, 'I know you're eight but you look seven.' She heard him, chose not to respond, showing the wisdom of her years. – Yours, etc,
NUALA GALLAGHER,
Castleknock,
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Dublin 15
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Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
All Together Now 2025 highs and lows: ‘CMAT for president', €8 for two cans of Sprite
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[ Fontaines DC: Biggest Irish group since U2 hit ferocious highs at all-conquering homecoming gig Opens in new window ] Relocated Arcadia stage The steam-punk goth arena's new location made it easier to access and increased its capacity – a great innovation if you wanted to rave until 4am to hardcore techno accompanied by theatrical flames spewing from the baroque stage. Ollie, Gavin and James from Dublin arrive on site for All Together Now. This year the campsites were close to the main arena, meaning carrying gear in and out was less hassle than in previous years. Photograph: Dan Dennison Campsites' closeness The campsites' proximity to the main arena was an absolute win. It meant that, during the day, people could gather in the communal areas, get lunch and listen to the daytime acts – something that doesn't feel as viable at bigger festivals, such as Electric Picnic. The Bandstand area, in particular, had crowds sitting on the grass, catching up, having food and listening to acts throughout the day. READ MORE Chilling in the Curraghmore gardens One of the other ways that some of the weekend's 30,000 festivalgoers chilled out was by heading for the gardens of the Curraghmore Estate. Sitting back as a seanchoíche storytelling session unfolded in the background was the perfect way to get a quick respite. Getting a wave from the lucky few staying in the big house was a bonus. Festival look If you were to bottle up the vibes of Drury Street in Dublin and send them on the train down to Waterford, that would be All Together Now 2025. This year's festival look included jerseys, Fontaines DC and CMAT merch, short shorts and ruffled mini skirts, not to mention Pellador jumpers, Bohs jerseys – see Lows, below – and mullets. Also, solidarity to the girls wearing cowboy boots: the blisters can't be forgiving. Ecofriendly festivalgoers and a team of staff kept the area clean, constantly tidying up rubbish. Photograph: Dan Dennison Ecofriendly audience The arena felt very clean – much cleaner than at other festivals. This was presumably in part down to the staff who were constantly cleaning up rubbish, but also down to ecofriendly festivalgoers who made sure to take their waste away with them. LOWS Preposterous cost of food Festivalgoers felt the sting of the cost-of-living crisis at the festival's food trucks. Photograph: Dan Dennison The lowest price for a meal at an Irish festival is now €15 – assuming you don't want to a drink to go with it. Festivals are supposed to be where we go to escape the pressures of every day life, but the cost-of-living crisis was making its presence felt at All Together Now. At Glastonbury three-quarters of the food trucks have a £6 offering , according to the huge British festival. That sounds like an idea well worth emulating. 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Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
All Together Now 2025: The weekend in pictures
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Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘I love gowns, volume and a lot of drama': Meet the young Irish designer creating outfits for CMAT and Chappell Roan
What do Irish singer CMAT , actor and TV presenter Siobhán McSweeney , US pop superstar Chappell Roan and drag performer Bailey J Mills all have in common? Well, they are fans of the young Irish designer Oran O'Reilly, otherwise known as Oran Aurelio, a recent graduate of the Institute of Art, Design and Technology's (IADT) four-year course on production design for film , the only course of its kind in Ireland. Aurelio's striking silhouettes, colours and constructions, with some items made from old curtains and deadstock, display a lively and informed imagination at work. He says he was always interested in old movies and Hollywood, and the famous costume designer Edith Head. He originally had ambitions to be a playwright. He speaks highly of designer Peter O'Brien, his tutor at IADT. 'I learned so much from him – the way he thinks, the way he talks about design, his cultural references are so specific to what I love about fashion.' READ MORE He fell in love with costume design on the course, where 'I finally discovered what I was looking for – storytelling but it is fashion and glamour'. Dressed in a stylish white shirt with mosaic cufflinks when we meet in Dublin, his appearance with goatee and moustache has a certain Florentine flourish, no doubt attributed to his half-Italian ancestry. The youngest of five from Rathfarnham, in Dublin, his mother Orla, formerly a make-up artist in Brown Thomas, encouraged his love of glamour and 'dressing for the occasion'. His grandparents on his mother's side were from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, and owned a shop on the quays selling religious goods – hence the mosaic cufflinks. Ask him how he defines glamour and he cites Maria Callas singing Bellini's Casta Diva 'in a gorgeous gown – that is glamour, it is putting an effort into how you look'. He also references Babe Paley and the Swans, Truman Capote's New York socialites in the mid-20th century, and their famous hangout at La Cote Basque in the 1960s, as other examples of glamour. 'I love the idea of keeping glamour alive,' Oran O'Reilly says The Duchess of Malfi cape from Oran's debut collection Earnest, well read, and impeccably polite, his thirst for knowledge and experience is immediately obvious. His reputation and popularity has been growing rapidly in the drag community and with global pop stars too, after he started posting his work on Instagram. 'Social media has been such a catalogue for what I do. There is instant feedback, every voice is equal – it is quite terrifying in a way,' he says. A mention in British Vogue in 2023 as an up-and-coming talent remains a source of pride – 'it made me look legit'. [ Dublin photographer Sarah Doyle: 'I am more interested in style than fashion' Opens in new window ] Since then, his pieces have included a corset bodysuit with fringing inspired by 18th century dress for CMAT. He has designed a few pieces for Florence and the Machine, including one made from curtains found in a charity shop for Glastonbury in 2023. There was a shirred taffeta gown for Irish singer Nell Mescal, costumes for British indie rock band The Last Dinner Party , a handknit dress with train for American actor Ally Ioannides and a red dress in neoprene for Chappell Roan inspired by the movie Pink Flamingos. 'I had to make 10 neoprene dresses after that for [Dublin boutique] Om Diva last June,' he sighs – with a smile. We discuss how festivalgoers wear elements of the gear their stars sport, such as the sparkly cowboy hats and boots that could be seen everywhere at the recent Tate McRae concert at Dublin's 3Arena. 'It's almost such as a studio system (controlling every aspect of the business). Their persona is referenced in their clothes and that is how they sell themselves to the audience who tend to dress such as them,' he says. 'It's a uniform.' His debut collection, The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi, was photographed at Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham His debut collection is called The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi (a Jacobean revenge tragedy), photographed in Loreto Abbey Rathfarnham, where he went to school. It will be presented on the steps of the National Concert Hall on September 2nd for his formal outing as a fashion designer, and will express his combination of theatricality, camp and glamour. 'I love gowns, opera coats, a lot of volume and a lot of drama. And point d'esprit (finely woven net lace).' He hopes the collection will establish him as 'the kind of designer I would like to be and how I like to be perceived. I want to be able to craft gorgeous gown for people, and would be open to working with anyone (in that way). 'I love the idea of keeping glamour alive.' Oran Aurelio's Instagram can be found here, @oranaurelio
