Paul Costelloe launches London Fashion Week with a very girly collection

Veteran Irish designer Paul Costelloe launched the 40th London Fashion Week on Friday the 13th. While the superstitious might fear the date, it was fortuitous for Costelloe and there was a full house to celebrate the designer’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection, titled Le Ciel est Bleu (The Sky is Blue).

It was presented to a rapturous audience at the Waldorf Hilton and celebrities on the ‘frow’ included Irish singer Una Healy in a glamorous printed Costelloe dress.

As the title suggests, this was a collection full of optimism and blue-sky thinking.

Costelloe cited Emily In Paris as his muse and the feminine, romantic aesthetic evoked the character’s Parisian wardrobe.

Costelloe lived in the City of Light as a young designer, being paid per sketch while living in a damp hotel room on the Left Bank, but he still has fond memories of his time there. So his show took place against a painted backdrop soundtrack of French songs.

His spring/summer range, inspired by girlish Gallic glamour, featured a palette of soft brights and pretty pastels with design details like ruffles, floppy bows, corsages and short hemlines, which lent the designs a flirty, youthful effervescence. It was, as the French say, très jolie and très charmante.

Costelloe, who will celebrate his 80th birthday next June, has enjoyed a long, eventful career since first attending the Grafton Academy in 1968, and is now the last man standing from the first generation of designers who showed at Olympia in 1984. He is the elder statesman of London Fashion Week but doesn’t think his age matters in terms of his work.

He told Vogue Business succinctly that ‘in fashion, age isn’t relevant’.

The collection opened with a sequence of soft blue separates encompassing a very short mini paired with big pants and stockings, a sporty funnel neck jacket and a windowpane check waistcoat and palazzo pairing.

This colour story continued with a ruffled shirt and skirt, a babydoll dress with a pleated skirt, and a seersucker mini dress followed by a pastel stripe knit with seersucker shorts.

Next, there was texture and print in the form of soft blue tweed jackets, romantic printed dresses and a printed short bloomer style allin-one made an impression. A mini bubble-hem dress was pure 1980s nostalgia.

The next group utilised a blurred print – Costelloe’s prints are designed by his son William, the brand’s design director – and a tactile devorée fabric in soft dresses and separates that were fluid and feminine.

Hemlines varied from mini to midi lengths, but all were easy and pretty.

A neutral colour group followed, opening with a relaxed ecru jumpsuit cinched at the waist with a leather belt and a sequence of dresses, both short and long. A sweet safari mini dress preceded a languid maxi dress while a set of white dresses were more demure featuring longer hemlines and decorative bows.

Next there was a group of pretty pastels with pale pink, aqua, soft or lime green, and yellow all starring. Again, there were both mini and midi hemlines and ruffles, ruching and statement bows for a girlish flourish. These were easy, beautiful pieces in dopamine-boosting yet wearable shades that were very appealing. A textured floral fabric with butterflies used in a blazer, bra and mini skirt as well as a short slip dress, was utterly gorgeous.

A multi- coloured, soft pastel print story featured ruffled and gathered dresses and separates adorned with floral corsages and skilful pleating. Any would be perfect for a wedding or party, weather permitting.

Also striking were some jacquard dresses in eau de nil and pink worthy of a ladylike debutante.

The final looks introduced an edit of wedding gowns, a new departure for the brand which will be stocked in premium bridal retailers. They were understated yet elegant and typified the collection’s romanticism.

As a designer, Costelloe remains polished at executing beautiful clothes with a commercial appeal. He says he doesn’t plan to retire for another decade and cited his inspiration for this season as simply ‘joy, enjoying life’. Long may he continue to do so, while providing wearable glamour to women who adore his enduring allure.

See more from the collection in our gallery below: