Designer on her way to Buckingham Palace

Designer on her way to Buckingham Palace

10 January 2018

A YOUNG Saintfield designer has caught the Royal eye. Meabh Mageean will be the guest of the Duchess of Cambridge and the Countess of Wessex at a prestigious event at Buckingham Palace next month to celebrate design excellence.

She has received an unexpected invitation to attend the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, which will be hosted by the Duchess and the Countess on Monday, February 19, to coincide with London Fashion Week.

Meabh, who is a graduate in art and design from the Belfast Art College and a former pupil of Assumption Grammar School, says she is already mulling over ideas of what to wear to showcase her work.

Although full details of the event are being kept under wraps, 29 year-old Meabh said she is excited by the opportunity to mingle, not only with the Royals, but also with the most talented designers in the UK during the evening reception.

“I am very excited to have been invited to this event and by the prospect of meeting the other designers,” she said.

“All I have to do now is create an outfit for myself, something that advertises what I do, which will probably involve tartan and tulle.

“Although I am thinking about it and going through designs in my head i have a long way to go, the time consuming part will be making the pattern.”

A coat designer by day, she also custom makes outfits for mothers of the bride, bridesmaids, ladies’ day events and other special occasions.

She has, however, become best known for her line of colourful tweed waistcoats, which she first created for her own wedding in April.

She said she quickly realised when planning her wedding that waistcoats were only available in a handful of standard colours.

Keen to create something colourful and quirky for her fiancé Steven Dineen, groomsmen and pageboys, she sourced vibrant tweeds and velvets and designed her own range.

Taking her finished waistcoats to wedding shows, she was delighted by the response, which she believes may have led to the surprise royal invitation.