Metropolis: Autumn fresh

Irish fashion stalwart Helen McAlinden is looking forward to a bright new season, writes Ruth O'Connor.

Thalia Heffernan, Morgan Model Agency (left) and Karen Fitzpatrick, Assets Model Agency; make-up by Fauve Chapman; photographer Anthony Woods; stylist Mark Andrew Kelly.

We might be heading for autumn, but Irish designer Helen McAlinden is talking firmly about green shoots. There is, she says, "confidence that things are coming back - spring has been good and we are looking forward to a strong winter season".

A well-known figure on the Irish design scene for 30 years, the first drop of McAlinden's autumn/winter collection is already proving popular with customers from France, Sweden and Portugal, who have ...