Ríon Hannora
Designer Ríon Hannora uses the body as an exhibition space, designing each garment to be a walking piece of art.
Ríon is drawn to natural materials, neon colours, and the juxtaposition between the natural and the unnatural is a common theme throughout her work. Her influences vary greatly from amateur graffiti to club culture to the baroque era.
Ríon’s creations lie in the grey area between fine art and fashion. She is a slow-fashion enthusiast and has worked alongside many designers across the globe including Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY and YSL. Last year, Ríon led the organisation of ‘Dublin Independent Fashion Weekend’ which showcased the different facets of innovative Irish design and gave a number of Irish designers a platform to showcase their work to the public.
Ríon re-uses fabrics and uses non-harmful materials in her designs, which she says, actively paves a path toward environmental change. ‘Fashion is one of the top contributors when it comes to global warming and carbon emissions. So showing that there are less harmful, more sustainable ways to create is now more important than ever. These kinds of techniques can make a real change’, says Ríon.
Corsetry features prominently in Ríon’s work and she feels that the corset is a historically complex garment as it, in some ways, symbolises the oppression of women in a patriarchal society. Historically, some women would break their lower ribs to fit into corsets in order to enhance their waists. Ríon says, ‘the aesthetic of the corset, I very much applaud but the torture that women went through to fit in them, I very much don’t. Most of the corsets in my collections are adjustable at the shoulders and at the centre back, so that you can adjust them to how you yourself are feeling that day’.
Ríon also says that it is very important for her designs to be able to adjust around the body, rather than the body having to adjust to them, and that empowerment and making people feel comfortable while wearing a formal gown is at the heart of why she does what she does. Saint Brigid and the mythology surrounding her has always fascinated me, she is an original Irish feminist role model’, says Ríon.
Ríon is a self-taught knitter and has tried to incorporate Irish styles of knitting into her process as much as possible. She works under a zero-waste policy within her studio so that every single piece of fabric is used. For example, she did a collaboration with a vintage shop where she received all their denim off-cuts. However, the side seams of vintage jeans were very thick and could not fit through her sewing machine. She decided to hand sew the seams together to make a big long piece of yarn. She then knitted this into various accessories within her collection.
Ríon feels that Nordic design has a lot to do with the object being true to its material. Her most recent collections are made of raw, unbleached cotton canvas, which is the base of most other fabrics. ‘Using this simple fabric encourages me to rely solely on the design of each garment, without any bright and colourful fabrics to fall back on. Showcasing the material only for what it is’, says Ríon.