"Friends and family thought we were mad."

Audrey Hamilton is known for her bold, expressive pop art pieces. Her customer base and following reaches well beyond Ireland to pop art lovers all over the world. It was during lockdown last year that the artist and entrepreneur embarked on launching her own premium 'slow fashion' apparel line, Audrey Hamilton Apparel. In line with the high-end reputation her art is so well known for, Audrey was adamant that her apparel line would focus on the elements most important to her: quality, style, and creativity. After half a year of perfecting the designs and countless hours correcting the exclusive print work, Audrey Hamilton Apparel’s summer fashion release is ready to launch. Speaking about her summer launch, Audrey says;

"My love of art and being an artist is who I am, extending that creative process to fashion design was definitely a challenge. The artistic creativity part came quite naturally but working with textiles was a whole new endeavour for me. I tried to view it as simply having a new canvas but was quickly put to the test once we started. Admittedly, I am a perfectionist so quality, stitching, design, fabrics, pantones, labelling, printing, all of it had to be perfected countless times."

In line with the brand's AW21 collection style and ethos, the Audrey Hamilton Apparel summer release line focuses on eye-catching designs, bold styling, and expressive colours. The oversized t-shirts that encompass the collection are made of 100% cotton and are manufactured in Portugal to the highest ethical and environmental standards.

"All our pieces are made by the top manufacture and print house in Portugal, whose clients include Versace, Karl Lagerfeld and Burberry, to name a few, so once we engaged with them, I knew I was in the best hands. Friends and family thought we were mad at the expense, but I just wouldn’t budge on quality and design standards. The printing of my artwork on textile was by far the most challenging as the team were used to printing digital designs onto clothing, as opposed to art, so this meant strike-off after strike-off until we reached the desired result. Everything has to be printed multiple times, to reach the bold colour quality my art is known for, and I just couldn’t settle for less. The owner of this famed Portuguese print house actually ended up seeing these designs as a personal challenge!"

To celebrate the summer drop Audrey decided that a POP-UP store that also incorporated the current line would give people the opportunity to see the apparel in person, an experience that was restricted by the pandemic. In true Audrey Hamilton style, it was ‘go big or go home’ so she decided on an all-out in store collaboration of Audrey Hamilton Art and Audrey Hamilton Apparel. People can expect ‘Fashion Is Art’ to be just as bold and beautiful as the products she releases. The Audrey Hamilton 'Fashion Is Art' POP-UP is now open to the public in Powerscourt Town Centre until June 30th. Opening times are 10am - 6pm. The new summer fashion drop will be available to purchase exclusively in-store for the first week, and then online at audreyhamiltonapparel.com. Pieces in the new line begin at €55.