How Róisín Pierce is Designing Modern Heirlooms Through Irish Craft.
‘In beauty and softness resilience resides.’
More than a design philosophy, this is the thread that runs through every Róisín Pierce collection. At first glance, her garments seem almost ethereal; white textiles suspended in layers of embroidery, lace and hand-finished detail. Yet, beneath their delicacy lies an extraordinary commitment to craft. Through traditional textile techniques, Pierce transforms softness into strength. Creating collections that reconnect contemporary fashion to the skill, care, and inherited knowledge that has been stitched into generations of Irish craft.
Following years of international recognition, from the Chanel Métiers d’Art Prize and LVMH Prize shortlist. To her place on the Paris Fashion Week calendar, Róisín Pierce’s work continues to redefine the relationship between Irish craft and contemporary fashion. This connection between heritage and innovation was recently recognised closer to home, with Pierce receiving the 2026 Golden Fleece Special Merit Award, for Irish Craft Excellence.
Working almost exclusively in white, Pierce creates a palette that allows the complexity of her craftsmanship to take centre stage. Crochet, smocking, patchwork and embroidery become more than decorative details; they shape the identity of each garment. The colour connects to recurring themes within her practice, from ideas of beauty and purity, to textile traditions passed down generations of Irish women.
What makes her work so compelling is the relationship between garment and body. The intricate details shift with movement, revealing textures and techniques that transform once worn. A piece that appears sculptural from a distance becomes increasingly intimate up close. The connection between craft, material and wearer creates garments that feel inherited.
The significance of her technique lies not only in how they are made, but what they represent. Practices such as; embroidery, lace making and hand sewing carry stories of skill, patience and creativity across generations.
For Pierce, these traditions are not symbolic of the past, in need of recreation. They are living expressions of memory and identity. By placing them within contemporary fashion, she highlights the value of the hands, histories and experiences that have shaped them. The result is clothing that feels deeply connected to Irish heritage, not because it imitates tradition, but instead carries it forward.
Each garment feels like a modern heirloom, embodying the hardships, pain, resilience and strength of Irish women.
This sense of inherited memory has been present from the beginning of Pierce's practice. After studying Textile Design at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, her debut collection, Mná i Bhláth (Women in Bloom), established many of the themes that would continue throughout her career. Informed by the experiences of women from Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, the collection explored the hardships imposed on Irish women, both past and present. Mná i Bhláth presents Ireland's dark history, wrapping it up in ribbons, florets and cotton lace.
Her following collection, Two For Joy, turned towards personal nostalgia. Drawing inspiration from childhood memories, nursery rhymes and counting Magpies in the garden. Through embroidery, satins, gathered squares and patchwork, the collection translated familiar moments into tactile expressions of memory.
Pierce's most recent collection, Nothing Pure Can Stay (AW 2025) is described as an ‘endeavour to eternalise the ephemeral.’ Continuing her fascination with memory, nature and the passing of time, the collection captures the delicate balance between what remains and what disappears. Intricate white work and inky blue textiles form sculptural landscapes across the garments; with handcrafted peaks, tucks, spirals and cascades creating a sense of movement and transformation. Forget-me-nots are embroidered into the cloth as a quiet reminder of remembrance. While a collaboration with Polène extended Pierce’s craft-led approach into a collection of handbags that carried the same attention to detail.
Nothing Pure Can Stay reflects the ongoing themes that have defined Pierce's practice; preserving moments, techniques and stories through the language of craft. This collection does not attempt to hold on to the past unchanged. Instead, it explores how memories and traditions continue to evolve.
Across every Róisín Pierce collection, storytelling remains at the heart of her work. Her garments carry more than the beauty of their construction; they hold time, care and knowledge within every stitch. Through craft, Pierce creates a connection between past and present, allowing the techniques and experiences of previous generations to continue through contemporary fashion.
Perhaps this is what makes her work feel so enduring. For those who have followed Pierce from the beginning, a wardrobe built through her collections does not simply reset with each season; it grows. Each piece becomes part of a personal archive, carrying its own memory, while remaining connected to the stories that shaped it.
Through her designs, clothing becomes more than something to be worn. It is something to inherit, remember and pass forward. Garments shaped by beauty, grief, resilience and care, Pierce demonstrates the power of fashion to preserve what matters. Not by keeping the past unchanged, but by allowing it to live again.
Photo Credits:
Róisín Pierce
Jackie Nickerson
Cécile Smetana
Written By: Leah Murphy
Edited By: Hazel Hunter
