About

When it comes to working with fabrics, there’s not much, if anything, Louise hasn’t tackled. An itinerant childhood in France and Italy led to art school from where she went on to graduate from the London College of Fashion. Both during and subsequent to these student days, she gained invaluable experience working in the wardrobe department of the Royal Opera House.

She is possessed of an enviable skill set combined with boundless imagination and energy and has gone on to design and produce couture clothing for the individual as well as a number of household names including George Michael and the Pet Shop Boys. Now married and living between England and France, she keeps her hand in with private commissions and continues to design for the stage.

Rory Bremner has an interesting take:
“I think of her more as an artist who uses her imagination to create unusual and lovely things. For example, I had a pair of white polo trousers which were outrageously tight. She let them out and had the clever idea of inserting a leather V, so know they’re both funky and highly practical.

As well as being imaginative and creative, Louise is a complete perfectionist. I’d ripped the lining of a cashmere sports jacket to shreds and she mended it. Then she decided she wasn’t happy with her work, took it away and the jacket came back with a fantastic iridescent purple lining. Then I found that she’s put something in every pocket – a packet of seeds, a tube of Love Hearts, a tiny pack of cards. It was like pulling a Christmas cracker.

Although I’ve no objection, she can be quite bossy. She’ll walk into my flat and say ‘I don’t like those cushions’ and take them away. When they come back they’ll have tassels or something different about them that is perfectly in tune with the rest of my furnishings.”

More Links

Made to Measure

Private Couture

Clothes for you and me, but also some of the best known acts of the 80’s and 90’s including George Michael and the Pet Shop Boys.

Author & Illustrator

Pollyhester I & II and Sins

The first Pollyhester appeared in 2008, the second in 2014. Sins, authored by Mary Telford, was published in 2016.

Stage

Dublin Workshop

A commission from Ballet Ireland to design and make all the costumes for their touring production of Coppelia. Immensely satisfying.