The Pursuit of Awesome

Stellar Musings & Advice on Achieving Your Dreams

Diana Bunici

• Publisher: Liberties Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781910742310
• eBook ISBN: 9781910742624
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

The Pursuit of Awesome: Stellar Musings & Advice on Achieving Your Dreams is a positive, motivational read for anyone with a dream. Global rock stars, international sportsmen, best-selling authors and Oscar winners tell their stories, of going from small town kids with high hopes and big ambitions, to 'making it'.Dive into the world of film, TV, radio, publishing, fashion, sport, and feel inspired by the successes of those who are living their passions. Acquire a unique insight into these alternative contemporary careers directly from the people pursuing them: go on the road with Hozier and Kodaline, score a try with Rob Kearney, go behind the movie scenes on the set of Gravity, walk the red carpet with Laura Whitmore, score a million pound publishing deal with Derek Landy, step into Kensington Palace with fashion designer Paul Costelloe, go viral with Cian Twomey, go to Hollywood with Cecelia Ahearn, cast spells on the of Harry Potter with Evanna Lynch and win the Open Championship with Rory McIlroy.Crammed with invaluable advice from role models and professionals in the limelight, The Pursuit of Awesome uncovers the struggles and highs of life in the fast lane. An essential read for those of all ages, looking to seek creative and innovative career paths.

In Vogue

‘People will stare. Make it worth their while.’

Harry Winston

For some fashion is just fun; for others it’s a way of life.

With a beautiful garment, a stylish pair of shoes, a carefully crafted handbag, fashion can alter your mood, your lifestyle, your habits and your world.

It’s a mode of expression; a way of wearing your personality and feelings, a way of exposing to the world who you are. For the consumer it offers a pleasure like no other; for the designer a way of showcasing their view of the world, whether in multicolour or monochrome, snakeskin, silk or the finest wool.

Leaf through the following pages for an intimate look into the lives of some of our biggest fashion names from jewellery crafters to costume designers and haute-couture ateliers.

Don O’Neill

Kerry-born designer Don O’Neill oozes fashion from his fingertips. From humble beginnings to running a New York based fashion house, the style guru has been dressing international superstars like Oprah in his breathtaking Theia Couture gowns since 2009. With stints working for prestigious fashion giants Lacroix and Badgley Mischka, nobody knows haute couture like O’Neill.

My interest in clothes started very young. At the age of seven or eight when I was playing with my sister’s Cindy dolls, I would dress the dolls up in mom’s silk scarves, draping and wrapping them around to make new dresses. God, those dresses were so simple to make. Cindy never had fit issues!

Mom was quite fashionable and had a wardrobe of beautiful dresses from Bergdorf Goodman in New York and IB Jorgensen in Dublin, and I was aware at nine or ten years old of the excitement around a new designer purchase and what made them so special.

When in I was about fifteen, I saw a fabulous television documentary on Karl Lagerfeld preparing a winter collection at Chloé. The fashion-show scenes at the end ignited in earnest my fledgling fashion flames – that’s when I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer. I didn’t seriously pursue if for another few years, however. I had other interests too, many of which were creative. I loved drawing. I loved to cook. I loved science, biology and chemistry but in school, my heart was always in the art room. My art teacher thought I could one day become a graphic artist.

With that in mind, I applied to the Crawford College of Art in Cork and the Limerick College of Art and Design and was luckily offered places at both. My art teacher recommended Cork for its foundation course and suggested I transfer to Limerick for fashion, if fashion was truly my passion.

Two months in to college in Cork, I felt in despair. At the tender age of seventeen, I was homesick and unsure of my career choice. At that time, I would come home every weekend with my cousin Lorraine who worked for AIB in Bishopstown, along with another girl from Ballyheigue who was training to be a chef in the regional technical college with CERT.

Every weekend she told stories of wonderful and exotic things she learned to cook or bake during the week and I was fascinated. I decided I no longer wanted to study art. I wanted to be a chef. I was nervous telling mom and dad about my change of heart but they fully supported me. I dropped out of college and applied to CERT, and fortunately was accepted to begin classes in Cork the following September. I was thrilled. I studied there for two years and loved every minute.

I really excelled in culinary college and came third in the national apprentice competition and represented Ireland in the junior culinary-olympic team at Hotelympia. I never forgot about my love of art and fashion. All through college, I was doodling fashion models in the margins of my books and even designed my sister Deirdre’s debs dress.

I graduated with distinction and went on to begin my career at a restaurant in Galway. The reality of being a chef the long hours, working weekends and holidays began to take its toll. Ironically as I write this, it is the Labor Day bank holiday weekend in America and I am on my way in to work to prepare for fashion week which kicks off in three days.

Fashion was always on my mind. I was in a bit of a dilemma and once again told mom and dad, that I wanted to switch careers and go back to college to study fashion. Like always, they were fully supportive and promised to help in any way they could. I resigned and began applying for courses. A few weeks later, I received a phone call at home, congratulating me on winning a fully paid tuition scholarship to the Barbra Bourke College of Fashion Design in Dublin. Fate had decided I was definitely going back to fashion and was helping to pay the costs too!

College, I now know, is essential in learning the basics of the craft; how to draw and sketch fashion illustrations, how to make a paper pattern or drape a dress on a mannequin, understanding how clothes are cut and sewn together, what all the different types of fabric are, how they are made, how they drape, how to push and nurture creativity and design a collection, merchandise it, price and sell it, and learning about the various business models and fashion career choices within this enormous industry. Internships while in college at established fashion houses are wonderful for seeing what is being learned and put in to practice, and to really learn from witnessing how it all happens.

My time with Christian Lacroix in Paris was my most extraordinary and magical fashion experience ever. To be an intern in the number one couture house in Paris was such a privilege. I had worked unpaid and very hard for a costume designer in Paris – the pay-off being that if I helped her, she would introduce me to her friends at Christian Lacroix where she herself had worked for many years. As promised, she set up the meeting and they liked my portfolio, much, they offered me an intern position to work on the Autumn/Winter haute couture collection.

I worked side-by-side with Monsieur Lacroix every day for three months and witnessed this incredible man make magic happen. Nothing was impossible and his ateliers could breathe life into even the simplest scribble on a tiny post-it note that he doodled while on the phone one afternoon. I was nervous on my first day. My French was terrible and I continually addressed Monsieur Lacroix in the familiar ‘tu’. It was a terrible ‘faux pas’ to the horror of the entire studio, for which I severely reprimanded several times! However one evening, Mr Lacroix confided in me that he found it and my clumsy French and Irish accent adorable and that he didn’t mind at all, but that was just to be between us.

My trip to America was almost fated. Before working at Lacroix, I was barely surviving in Paris and had entered the Morrin Visa lottery in the hope that New York would provide better work opportunities. I won a green card just before starting at the fashion house and unsure of what to do, I confided in Christian. He proposed I go see his astrologist who told me my future was indeed, in America. I headed off to New York with an armful of introductory letters to America’s top designers, each handwritten by Monsieur Lacroix. I was a very lucky man.

My first job in America, as design director in an evening-wear company, lasted ten years. I was then head hunted by one of the evening wear industry’s top sales executives who had just joined JS International. They had just secured the license to revive the bankrupt, defunct Badgley Mischka brand, which was once America’s leading red carpet glamour label.

My job was to create a high volume, affordable luxury evening wear collection for them. It was the most challenging and transformative period of my life. I walked through fire and the burden on my shoulders felt crushing I thought I would collapse. I regretted many times leaving the comfort of my previous job, however, miraculously, I made it through the testing times and we went from zero to eleven million dollars in sales in our first year, exceeding the company’s two million dollars projection for year-one.

We had grown Badgley Mischka to an eighteen-million-dollar company but working as a licensee to the giant Iconix Corporation, that owned the trademark, was proving to be a nightmare for the CEO of JS Group. At least the collection was hugely successful and everyone knew that Don O’Neill designed it. The license contract was due for renewal and the company decided not to renew. The contract was being terminated and I was handed the exciting opportunity to create a new evening wear brand.

At the time I had just completed a white chiffon strapless gown with a very ornate jeweled waistband, from which a huge ft skirt flowed in the breeze! When our model tried it during the fittings, she looked like a Goddess. I researched the names of Goddesses, Celtic, then Roman and Greek, and fate drew me to ‘THEIA’, the Greek word for Goddess. She was a Titan, the Goddess of light, from whom all urces of light radiate. A woman feeling like a Goddess radiating light – it was the perfect name for a new evening wear brand. That was the birth of my business.

My job as creative director is varied. I set the tone for the brand. I tell the story of who ‘THEIA’ is and incorporate that story in to each collection, creating the brand ‘truth’ – that a woman feels like a Goddess radiating light in my dresses.

The collections start with a light bulb going off, an emotional reaction to mething. It can be a piece of furniture, a picture in a book, a walk in the botanical gardens – a seed is then planted and it grows to form a collection. The fabrics come first, and again it’s emotional. I buy fabrics that I love. Then, I drape the fabrics and allow them to tell me what shapes they are best suited to. Next, I sketch, letting my mind wander freely as I fill pages of scribbles and doodles and dresses. It’s from these pages the most interesting and most successful designs come from.

The sleepless nights occur when I feel as though the muses of creativity have abandoned me, deadlines approach and my mind is a blank slate. But thankfully those moments, weeks at times, pass and the flow begins again.

It is always surreal and thrilling to see my gowns on the red carpet; pinch me moments like – ‘How on earth did I do that?’ – I remember watching the red carpet of a big award show one night with mom, dad and Pascal, my life partner for twenty-two years, here in New York and Carrie Underwood arrived on the carpet looking stunning in THEIA. Seeing all the hundreds of photographers going crazy as thousands of flashes lit her up, you could feel the excitement on the red carpet. I was excited; mom and dad were excited and proud, proud. It was lovely.

Oprah is the most famous celebrity I have ever met. I was nervous at first but she put us as easy immediately and we thoroughly enjoyed her company, that meeting was a huge highlight of my career.

For any budding designer, there are a few things to know. This industry is very, very hard work, with very, very long hours. It involves a lot of thankless, unpaid hours of interning, but remember you are learning your craft.

There is al the fact that you are only as good as your last dress – you don’t get to make very many bad dresses, or dresses that don’t sell because when sales plummet you either go out of business or get fired – this business is ruthless.

Finding a job can be tough – the competition is fierce. Going to a good school is very important and getting great industry experience is even more important.

This industry is full of very insecure yet powerful influential people hiding behind crazy, big glasses and über expensive designer clothes, terrified of sharing their contacts, giving a helping hand or allowing anyone in to their tiny privileged fashion circle. They will only open doors to you if you are prodigiously talented, or have managed to work at prestigious design houses.

Be prepared and know if you do not qualify for that club that you can still succeed and be very happy in the world of fashion without being featured in Vogue magazine or having dinner with Kendal Jenner or being best friends with Karl Lagerfeld.

Having your own company is expensive – hugely expensive and when you launch your first collection; know that you will not receive any payment until almost a year after you start. Signing away...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• In Print
• On the Box
• On Record
• In Training
• In Vogue
• On Air
• On the Silver Screen
• On Line
• Acknowledgements
• Photo Credits
• Copyright