Pauric Sweeney is a

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge put ...

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In many ...

designer from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Sweeney was born in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

in 1973. He has won the

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London twice a year, in February and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fashion wee ...

New Generation Award for two consecutive seasons and is noted for his clean and minimalistic lines.

Early life

Sweeney was born in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

, and was raised in

Falcarragh An Fál Carrach (anglicized as Falcarragh), sometimes called Na Crois Bhealaí ("the crossroads") is a small Gaeltacht town and townland in north-west County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The settlement is in the old parish of Cloughanee ...

, a small town in the district of

Cloughaneely Cloughaneely (official name: ) is a district in the west of County Donegal, Ireland. This is a mainly coastal area with a population of over 4,000 centred on the towns of Falcarragh () and Gortahork (). It is a Gaeltacht area, meaning the Irish ...

in the north of County Donegal. He attended

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary secondary school, voluntary day school, day and boarding school, boarding Catholicism, Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, Dublin, Bl ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

as a boarder before studying

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. At Blackrock College, Sweeney was friends with fellow designer

Paul Costelloe Paul Costelloe (born 23 June 1945) is an Irish designer and artist. In popular culture In 2010, Costelloe was one of six contemporary and internationally renowned Irish fashion designers featured on a set of Irish postage stamps issued by An ...

. Sweeney moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in the late 90s where he lived in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

along with other young and new designers such as

Hussein Chalayan Hussein Chalayan, (; tr, Hüseyin Çağlayan ; born 12 August 1970) is a British-Cypriot fashion designer. He has won the British Designer of the Year twice (in 1999 and 2000) and was awarded the MBE in 2006. Chalayan is currently teaching a ...

and

Lee Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion ...

. In the 1990s, Sweeney launched a multi-brand designer store and gallery at the fashion cult location called Root at The Old Truman Brewery at

Brick Lane Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest ...

to much acclaim.

Career

Sweeney began his fashion career as a jewellery designer in the late 90s, after which he progressed to designing

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...

in 2000. His first collection was titled "Wish U Were Gothic" and was revealed at the Louvre in Paris in 2000. He debuted his first collection at London Fashion Week in 2001 to much acclaim. His last ready-to-wear collection titled "Succubus" was shown at

The Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

in London, and featured handbags made by the designer. It was then that his friend

Suzy Menkes Suzy Peta Menkes (born 24 December 1943) is a British journalist and fashion critic. Formerly the fashion editor for the International Herald Tribune, Menkes also served as editor, Vogue International, for 25 international editions of ''Vogue'' ...

of the

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

suggested that he focus his attentions on designing handbags
Pauric Sweeney
handbags were launched in 2004 to much anticipation from the fashion world. Since then, he has amassed celebrity fans such as Leigh Lezark,

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...

Liberty Ross Liberty Lettice Lark Ross (born 23 September 1978) is an English model. She has appeared in publications such as ''Vogue'', ''Harper's Bazaar'', '' i-D'', and '' Dazed & Confused''. She is the sister of composers Atticus and Leopold Ross. Ca ...

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

Agyness Deyn Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...

Alexa Chung Alexa Chung (born 5 November 1983) is a British television presenter, model, internet personality, writer, and fashion designer. She wrote the book ''It'' (2013). Her fashion label Alexa Chung, stylized , launched in May 2017 and closed in 2022. ...

, and

Coco Rocha Mikhaila "Coco" Rocha (born September 10, 1988) is a Canadian fashion model. She is known as one of the first "digital" supermodels, and is known for her advocacy for younger models. As an author, she collaborated on the 2014 book ''Study of Pos ...

amongst many others. Sweeney opened his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

store in the posh

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

district of London in December 2011. Drawing inspiration from his architecture background, the store was praised as being "a treat for the senses" by

Vogue UK British ''Vogue'' is a British fashion magazine published based in London since autumn 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine ''Vogue'' and is owned and distributed by Condé Montrose Nast. British ''Vogue'' editor in 2012 c ...

. The flagship store is located at 33A Bruton Place, Mayfair, London, W1J 6NP. Sweeney has worked with

Raf Simons Raf Jan Simons (; born 12 January 1968) is a Belgian fashion designer. Beginning in furniture design, Simons launched his own menswear label in 1995. He was creative director at Jil Sander (2005–2012), Christian Dior (2012–2015), and Calvin K ...

as Creative Director of Accessories at

Jil Sander Heidemarie Jiline "Jil" Sander (; b. 27 November 1943) is a German minimalist fashion designer and the founder of the Jil Sander fashion house. Early life and education Heidemarie Jiline Sander was born in Wesselburen, Nazi Germany on 27 Novemb ...

. In addition, he has collaborated with

Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942) is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. She is the founder of Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market. In recognition of the notable design contributions of Kawakubo, an exhibition of her designs entitled '' Rei K ...

of Comme Des Garcons, and worked for international department store

Lane Crawford Lane Crawford (HK) Limited () is a retail company founded in 1850 with speciality department stores selling luxury goods in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Its headquarters are in , Wong Chuk Hang. Lane Crawford is a part of The Lane Crawford J ...

. In 2012, Sweeney collaborated with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

Carmen Wines to create a limited edition bag. Sweeney has been compared to

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and directe ...

by several magazines because of his impeccable eye for design and quality. In addition to his new swanky flagship store, Pauric Sweeney's bags also retail at highly prestigious department stores such as

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

, and

Brown Thomas Brown Thomas & Company Limited is a chain of five Irish department stores, located in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dundrum Town Centre. Part of the Selfridges Group, Brown Thomas is an upmarket chain, akin to Britain's Selfridges stores ...

, as well as online via Net-A-Porter and Cocosa amongst others. Sweeney now has three lines: Pauric Sweeney (his main exotic-skin line of handbags), Pauric by Pauric (diffusion leather line), and Sweeney (men's line).

References

External links

*http://www.fashionunited.co.uk/news/bags.htm *http://www.londoncollections.co.uk/men/designer/2055/Pauric-Sweeney-(Men's) *https://web.archive.org/web/20120322092009/http://www.caraandco.com/en/brand/accessories/pauric_sweeney/ *http://www.vogue.it/en/shows/oddities/2010/x/bag-pauric-sweeney *https://web.archive.org/web/20130920071106/http://idolmag.co.uk/archive/201204?page=2 *https://web.archive.org/web/20120727021716/http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/the-vogue-blog/2012/07/23/swooning-for-sweeney *http://www.avenue32.com/designers/pauric-sweeney/profile.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003940/http://www.chicanduntroubled.com/search/fashion+designer?page=17 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Pauric 1973 births Irish fashion designers English people of Irish descent People from County Donegal Artists from London Living people English fashion designers People educated at Blackrock College