Hello ,

I’m Tom, the owner of Carousel. Its been too long since our last post and with that in mind I have decided to begin afresh. From now on we will be using this space to keep you, our customers, fans, potential customers and anybody who likes what we do, up to date with all things happening in and around Carousel our retail business and Circus our clothing range. So if you’ve ever been curious about what goes on behind the scenes of a small Irish business, how our unique pieces make their way into the store and into your wardrobe – watch this space! We’ll even be offering sneak peeks into the coming seasons’ patterns and colours, so you can always stay ahead of the trend. 

First things first, let me give you a little background on me.

I began my working career in Cork, in a bank, a useful if not a fun start to my career. From there, onto the USA to figure out what I wanted to do, having realised it was not banking… After a few years in and around Boston I returned closer to home – London.

London was my introduction to the retail world. I got a job in Selfridges department store. This was a fantastic time; I met some great people and learned the ins and outs of retailing. After 6 years there, I finally spread my wings and opened up a vintage store in Camden market, selling original vintage pieces sourced from all over the UK. Ever since then, I have ploughed my own furrow to varying degrees of success, but always learning from and enjoying the experience and always involved in Vintage in some way.

In 1992 I returned to Ireland. I have had shops in the “creative quarter” of Dublin, continuously since my return. I recently opened a new branch in my home city of Cork.

Four years ago, through a meeting with an old friend from the UK, I got the opportunity to create my own range of clothing. Pretty quickly the name “Circus” came to mind. Fast forward to today, 3 years on from my first trip to India, where Circus is made, and here I am sitting at my desk creating the next range of Circus for sale for Spring Summer 2018. Circus is now available for sale in over 60 stores across Europe, Canada and the USA. At times, when I take a minute just to sit back and assess where I am at, I find it hard to believe that this is a job and not a dream!

What I do could not be more enjoyable and rewarding. I feel as much excitement when a box of new stock comes into our shops, as I hope you do when your on-line order comes through your post box. Even though I created the garment from an idea, it is not until the piece arrives into the shop and is hanging on a rail that I can really judge if I have done a good job. From time to time, I find myself in an airport or walking down a street somewhere and I see someone wearing a dress from Circus. I have to pinch myself knowing the story behind the dress and that I had a part in making it.

How to…Dress like a First Lady?

With the American presidential campaign taking place next month Hilary Clinton is everywhere right now and so we couldn’t help but start thinking about previous first ladies as we sat chatting over a cup of tea and some macaroons at lunch (We are good to Ourselves-I know!). Throughout the decades the first ladies have been the epitome of sophistication and glamour providing fashion and style inspiration to women across the globe. I mean let’s face it every woman would love a wardrobe like theirs and even now first ladies from the past manage to inspire modern day fashion as their outfit ensembles were never anything less than classy, polished and of course timeless.

Probably the most iconic of all first ladies and the first lady we have the biggest soft spot for is none other than (drum roll please)-Jackie Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy is a classic style icon who will be used to draw inspiration from for years as her style will never go out of fashion. Of course we may be biased here at Carousel considering Jackie herself was half-Irish and married Americas first Irish-Catholic President but even still you cannot deny how stylish she was! Jackie gained worldwide attention from the moment they won the presidential election campaign in 1960. She became a fashion icon, an industry trendsetter portrayed by the media as the ideal woman-(ahem…of course she wasn’t cause really there is no such thing!)-with impeccable fashion sense.

As she often sketched her own designs she garnered her own signature style that got her international recognition. The famous ‘’Jackie Look’’ spread like wild fire as even lower end stores imitated her sleek, classy ensembles. Much in line with her checkered and colorful life she had a mixture of signature looks that evolved throughout the years but the most iconic of these involved structured shapes that showed skin in a very tasteful way, along with bows on dresses. She was an avid fan of classic cuts that emphasised the silhouette, were extremely sophisticated yet stylish and uber feminine. Much like us at Carousel Jackie wasn’t afraid to experiment with bright colours, to express her individuality and cinch her dresses in at the waist to show off her figure. Until she passed away in 1994 Jackie remained one of the USA’s most stylish women.

When we think of Jackie we immediately think of structured A-line dresses or dresses that highlights the silhouette topped off with a bow which Jackie loved to add to her ensembles. Her look is still so attainable and nowadays even more affordable. My favourite dress in store right now is the ‘Jackie Blue Dress‘created by our own Circus range available exclusively to Carousel. . This dress inspired by Jackie herself is as close to her style as you can get and the shade of blue is stunning against all skin tones! We also have the ‘Ava Grey dress’  which I think is the epitome of a relaxed, Jackie Kennedy day look as she strolled around the grounds of the white house with the kids.

How to…Dress like Bridget Jones?
Hello ladies! If you are like us here at Carousel you consider winter and it’s long, dark, cold nights (which have certainly begun-eeekk!) to be the perfect excuse to get cozy on a couch beside the fire. Winter is THE perfect time to catch up on all your favourite series and movies and we recently kicked movie season off with a trip to the movies to see the long awaited Bridget Jones Baby!!

First off let me tell you my sides are still sore from giggling and I can’t help but laugh still as I think back on it. I always judge a comedy on whether it can make me laugh or not-let me tell you it is not easily done-but this movie did not disappoint! Bridget Jones movies have become romantic comedy classics, they are the ultimate chick flick and let’s be honest there isn’t a girl anywhere who can’t relate to Bridget.
Without giving too much away in this movie Bridget gets pregnant but in typical Bridget Jones fashion her life is all over the place and she has no idea who the father is. Her love hate relationship with mark Darcy is stronger than ever and we are kept on the edge of our seat in typical Bridget Jones fashion as to whether they will ever get together or not.
Dress like Bridget Jones
To be honest I was quite surprised with how good the movie was considering it is the third installment in the franchise but Bridget was her usual warm, witty lovable self and she looked better than ever! Throughout the film which has not lost any of its appeal and charm Bridget donned a few fabulous looks but our favorite was the chic green midi dress she wore to her son’s christening which she paired with a cute cream knitted cardigan and classy black patent shoes. We are delighted to have such a similar dress, ‘The Vivien dress’  here in stock at Carousel both in store and online and we also have the knee length floaty and fabulous ‘Peggy skirt’ that reminds us of the dress she wore. How great is that? I mean who doesn’t want to be Bridget Jones? (Hopefully though we have better luck with men!)

Pair with some low heeled vintage style shoes for the ultimate, classically vintage ensemble!