Louise Kennedy

• Name — Louise Kennedy • Born — 28 June 1960 • Birthplace — Puckane, County Tipperary, Ireland • Website — http: www.louisekennedy.com

Kennedy studied at the College of Marketing and Design, now part of Dublin Institute of Technology and the Grafton Academy, before setting up her own business in 1983, according to her official website. (Some sources say 1982, or 1984.) In 1990 she was commissioned by Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland, to design a purple moiré outfit for her presidential inauguration. Robinson subsequently became a regular customer, wearing Louise Kennedy outfits through her term in office and afterwards. Kennedy stated that she had been very fortunate by the timing of this, as it drew a great deal of attention and media coverage with many Irish clients suddenly made aware of her work and choosing to buy from her. That same year she was chosen to exhibit at the London Designer Show. In the mid-'90s she joined the British Fashion Council, showing her collections at London Fashion Week twice a year. She opened her flagship stores in Dublin (at 56 Merrion Square) and London in 1997, the same year in which she designed uniforms for flight staff on Aer Lingus. Since 1999 she has also designed glassware for Tipperary Crystal, collaborating with Marcus Notley since 2001. In 2009, she designed new judge's robes for the Irish Law Courts, marking a break from the traditional British robes that previous judges had worn. In 2011 Kennedy started offering bespoke wedding dresses. In 2013, the 30th anniversary of her company, she launched a range of personalised designer handbags, produced in collaboration with the British luxury leather goods company Tanner Krolle. In April 2014, Kennedy was among the Irish designers chosen to create the wardrobe for Irish President Michael D. Higgins's wife Sabina for their state visit to London. The outfits, apart from two custom-made ball gowns for state banquets, one by Kennedy and the other by Jill Howard, were bought as ready-to-wear, and chosen by Sabina with the assistance of her friend, the film and theatrical costume designer Joan Bergin, in order to showcase the best of Irish design, with Bergin saying "It was not my intention to commission a special wardrobe, but to show Irish women what was on offer out there." The outfits were widely acclaimed in the Irish press, with the Irish Independent dedicating an article to the fact that Sabina wore three separate Kennedy ensembles in one day. Alongside Sabina Higgins and Mary Robinson, Kennedy has also dressed the British Prime Ministers' wives Cherie Blair and Sarah Brown. In 1998, she replaced Ronit Zilkha as Cherie Blair's favourite designer. Other clients include the Duchess of Edinburgh, Meryl Streep, Kirsty Young, and Enya. In December 2014 Kennedy joined a group of mainly British designers, artists and businesspeople (including David Bailey, Roja Dove and Stella McCartney) at 10 Downing Street to mark their roles as ambassadors for David Cameron's GREAT Britain campaign, which was designed to promote the United Kingdom as a tourist destination, a place for study, or somewhere to do business.

In 2010 Kennedy was one of six contemporary Irish fashion designers featured on a set of Irish postage stamps issued by An Post. The other designers featured were Paul Costelloe, Lainey Keogh, John Rocha, Philip Treacy and Orla Kiely. Along with Costelloe, she was a celebrity guest judge for the 2013 final of RTÉ Television's Craft Master show. Kennedy's Dublin showroom neighbours the former home of another Irish designer, Sybil Connolly.

Louise Kennedy is recorded as fashion designer.