Issue Four

Lucy Downes thrives in an industry that fathers fashion as the content of our lives rather than the window dressing. She is degreed and accomplished in spawning the caliber of apparel found slipping from the pages of glamour mags, straight into our schools and our homes. Hers is an environment that furtively governs how we eat and where we play, a formula resulting in whom we emulate, that dares to suppose who we are.

These may or may not be the reasons Downes decided to keep it simple when laying the groundwork for her start-up clothing line Sphere One, now in it’s fifth collection. A former DKNY designer, Dublin-born Downes designs cashmere garments for people who are “young at heart, if not body.” Her designs are informed by big city traditions, cities like Manhattan, where “clothing during the day is sufficiently chic to wear for evening,” she explains. When asked about the why of her garments’ fibre and construction, Downes offers that, “if, in addition, the wearer can feel exceptionally comfortable, all the better.”

Unlike the scratchy woolens commonly associated with Ireland, cashmere is uniquely ethereal and credible. The luxurious weightlessness of its fibre organically seeks a respectful rapport with the human form, while Downes’ designs are likewise thoughtful in the way they accommodate a comfortable range of ages and shapes. To be certain, Downes is doing for knitwear what Hilfiger has done for rugby wear. This ain’t your grandmother’s button-down.

Downes’ passion is rooted in the belief that the only way to assure how something will end, is to first pay attention to how it begins. The success of Sphere One begins in Mongolia–not only a good place to find cashmere, but where the majority of the world’s cashmere goats are harvested. The next address on the coveted fibre’s journey is Scotland–home of Todd and Duncan, the world’s premiere procurer and producer of cashmere wool. There the fibre is woven and dyed into colors bearing names like Platinum, Kohl, Ocean, Rubber and Titanium. From Scotland, the voyage continues to an established factory in Nepal, where knitwear experts hand loom and hand finish every garment to Downes’ calculations. The garments then pass through six inspectors, the final and seventh inspector being Downes herself, where from Sphere One’s restored schoolhouse location outside Dublin, she hand stitches every “non-label” before fulfilling orders to prominent retailers in London, Dublin, Paris, and New York. In New York, Sphere One can be found at trendy Fifth Avenue Takashimaya and prestigious Barney’s New York. From beginning to end, the emphasis is on location, location, location.

  Sphere One is currently made up of three categories, the first being the Ingenious Scarf Collection. The most interesting in this line is the Tie Pocket Scarf, a generous width of cashmere that forms a sumptuous summer wrap when draped around the shoulders. When belted, the wrap performs as a deconstructed cardigan that offers two pockets where each length reaches below the hips.

Details in the Understated/Modern Collection might sound subtle in description, but when worn, these casual interpretations offer dramatic results. For example, the coller trim of the Paparadelle cardigan extends into a belt that ties behind the body on the inside rather than the outside, resulting in a sensually streamlined profile. Draped capriciously around the neck or shoulders, that same cardigan teases casual.

The Fashion Forward line comprises pieces likely to threaten traditionally classic knitwear styling. Gentle smocking allows for on or off-the-shoulder wearability, bodices can be worn comfortably loose or gathered into chic bustles. Raglan shoulders, box pleats, cashmere flowers, and wrist-warmers with thumbholes are surprising details that push Downes’ cashmeres into stunning fashion collectibles. In fact, the only detail obviously missing from Lucy Downes’ designer label is, well–the label.

“When I looked at designer labels that I admired, I was drawn toward those following the current trend to be understated, muted, sometimes cryptic,” Downes recalls. Her penchant for simplicity, coupled with her distaste for scratchy design labels, resulted in Downes insisting on a “non label,” as she refers to the open sphere she hand stitches into every piece of clothing–an elegant orb that recalls our world, our moon, our hemisphere, our atmosphere, ultimately honoring our most intimate sphere: Sphere One.

“Probably the greatest influence in my choosing a sphere is modern artist Patrick Scott, world renowned for his gold leaf spheres on unprimed canvas,” says Downes. “In fact, it was Patrick who passed onto me his passion for spheres and circles. It’s why I chose him to design my company’s logo,” a sphere that is not only stitched into every garment, but also embossed onto every hand-made garment box, “in the same way the Chinese press characters into their ceramics, leather, and candles, which I so admire for their simplicity,” completes Downes, of her decision to eliminate ego from fashion. But aside from her reluctance to make herself a household name, there are certain household names she is quick to praise–Donna Karan, for example.

It’s been only four years since Downes left her design position at DKNY to return to her native Ireland, although by her own admission, she enjoys the best of both worlds. Downes’ consulting contract with DKNY finds her in Manhattan fulfilling one month of freelance design four times a year, a gig she isn’t willing to relinquish. Advancing from a young Donna Karan Collection intern in 1992, Downes was soon invited to join the DKNY team as an assistant designer, then designer, and finally moving into the Donna Karan Shoe Company, a move Lucy recognized as a timely opportunity. Equipped with studies in economics and business, as well as an honors degree from Dublin’s National College of Art and Design, this eager designer was anxious to grasp every aspect of the fashion business, which is exactly what she accomplished in the smaller and more autonomous Donna Karan Shoe Company.

In 1996, Downes was invited to assist in the launching of DKNY’s sneaker division, a move that focused her efforts and travel on sneaker construction rooted primarily in China and Taiwan. By 1998, enjoying the rhythm of her efforts, Downes felt she had finally reached her stride. She was a runner on the verge of reaching her high, her legs almost moving without her. For someone like Downes, this could only mean it was time to move on. In the same way, she has maintained relationships with all her formative influences, and continues to consult for the DKNY sneaker division. “I have never worked in or witnessed a division that is so focused, hard working and passionate about its product,” Downes adds with fondness.

On the day of our interview, Downes prepares to leave Manhattan after six long weeks with DKNY. She is accustomed to overseas travel, her day-to-night wardrobe fitting neatly into one valise. Downes’ is remarkably in sync with her own packaging, a comfort that is evidenced by a casually daring style that insists on testing your eyes, like watching a cat that likes to swim. Her voice is like her homeland, graceful and honest, and yet her knowledge is as savvy as Manhattan.

There is no mystery to why Downes should be taken seriously. No matter on which side of the pond her plane lands, Downes realizes she is bringing something new with her, and that she has left something behind. Like how the colors and shapes that informed her as a child in Ireland, later spoke through her work in Manhattan, and how Manhattan filters through her work back in Dublin. Like how the designers at the Donna Karan Company once offered their knowledge to Downes, and how they now wait to know what she knows. With Downes, it’s an ongoing cycle that seems to define her.

To appreciate Lucy Downes is to appreciate the idiom that nothing is born of itself. Whether architecture, art, or fashion, good design is rooted in what came before, historical patterns for whatever dares to follow. A cycle portrayed by a circle. A circle that mimics our globe, that recalls our hemisphere, our atmosphere, a circle that represents Lucy’s sphere–Sphere One.