Cavan-based designer debuts at Paris Fashion Week

Paris Fashion Week 2025 came to a close yesterday (Tuesday) with lasting memories for one Cavan-based designer.

Margaret Coyne Couture debuted her ‘Loinnir Collection’ on the runway on last Thursday evening, when she took to the runway at the end of her show.

“There was great applause and everything, so it really seemed to be so well received and that was a really special moment.”

Having arrived back to Cavan early on Saturday morning, Margaret admits that she was “dreading” the moment she would have to step out on stage, and experienced the nerves of “sending it [the collection] down the runway and hoping it would grow wings and fly.”

“Walking down after it, I felt completely exposed but at the same time very proud,” she told the Celt.

The name of her collection, ‘Loinnir’, is an Irish word which she had heard mentioned on the radio one day and thought its meaning fitted that of her collection, inspired by her home in Dowra.

“It means a fleeting glimpse of light or brightness or beauty,” she describes.

“I thought it was really applicable to the landscape of west Cavan because we have all this rugged natural beauty. It’s not obvious or ostentatious beauty, it’s quiet and you need to seek it out; glimpses of misty mountains, dew drops on heather and sunlight catching a little stream. It’s beautiful and I just thought it perfectly translated to this collection that was growing in my imagination.”

The finished work comprises ten looks, with eight featured on the runway at Paris Fashion Week. The full collection has two bridal pieces and eight occasion gowns, which can also serve as wedding dresses in white.

Arriving in the French capital last Monday (September 29), Margaret had a hectic week with final preparations, networking events, press interviews and fitting days. The latter was the first time she got to see her bespoke creations on a model, something that she says is “always daunting”.

“You don’t know how well they will look until you actually see them on the models. You don’t know how well they will fit or what last minute adjustments or alterations need to be made.

“Luckily the dresses all fit the models pretty much perfectly,” she beams, although the Cavan designer had brought her sewing machine all the way from her studio in Dowra Court House in case it was needed.

It felt “surreal” to see models on the runway with her pieces.

“Absolutely exhilarating,” she continues. “Every designer’s dream has to be to show at Paris Fashion Week because it is just amazing. Even just to be there for the week and to see the big shows going on, the Louis Vuitton show was on at the Louvre that week and we saw some of the celebrities going in.

“The whole of Paris becomes a catwalk during fashion week and it is amazing to be a little small part of that.

“To bring a little part of west Cavan to Paris Fashion Week, that felt really good.”

Her fellow designers hailed from Malaysia, the Middle East, India, Romania, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada - the list was endless. Margaret was proud to be the only designer from Ireland on the stage at the show.

She brought her work to Paris under New York-based platform ‘Flying Solo’, which helps independent fashion designers showcase their work. The show in Paris was entitled ‘Ones to Watch’.

“The idea of them is that it’s by designers for designers.

“I was selected to be one of those.”

For the Kildare woman, the experience was like “realising a dream”.

“It was the pinnacle of my career really so far.

“I really want to put my business on the map nationally and internationally. I’m in a small area of West Cavan, it’s not known for fashion obviously, but I want to bring the community with me.

“I want to do for Dowra what Neven has done for Blacklion, I would love to do that,” says Margaret.