The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2026 - Issue 39

bitedesignerprofile P aul Costelloe’s story began in Dublin, in a family where craft, discipline, and a certain Irish wit shaped his view of the world. This foundation lived in the sharpness of his tailoring, the generosity of his silhouettes, and the way he treated fabric as something almost alive. He was one of those rare cre- atives whose pulse ran through everything he created. His Irish roots were a belief in making things properly, honouring tradi- tion, and letting clothes carry memory and momentum. When he arrived in London in the 1980s, the city was shifting, restless, hungry for new voices. Costelloe stepped into that moment with a classic and fresh sensibility. He had studied at the Grafton Academy of Fashion Design in Dublin, trained in Paris and Milan, absorbing the rigour of Europe- an ateliers. He also spent time in the United States, his mother’s birthplace, and learned the ease and pragmatism of American sportswear. London allowed him to fuse those influences through sculptural tailoring softened by movement, femininity sharp- ened by structure, and elegance delivered with a wink. The designer made his London Fashion Week debut in 1984 at the Olympia exhibi- tion centre with a collection that immedi- ately set him apart. Inspired by the Harrison Ford Amish neo-noir crime thriller drama Witness, he translated the film’s mod- est, pared‑back wardrobe into romantic, sculptural, and unmistakably high fashion. Instead of treating the source material liter- ally, he distilled its simplicity, purity of line, and restrained essence and rebuilt it through the lens of sharp tailoring and Irish textile mastery. LFW SS24 COSTELLOE PAUL Special Designer Profile