For Helen McAlinden, dressing well comes down to a simple equation. 'Understated elegance, you know, it's like maths,' she tells EVOKE. 'The simplest solution is usually the most elegant.'
This season, Helen is on a mission to help the women of Ireland dress with confidence, incorporating sophisticated and elevated looks into their everyday wardrobe, under her philosophy of ' buy better, buy less'.
The Belfast-born designer's new autumn/winter collection is built around three key themes: reinvented classics, updated heritage, and Hollywood-inspired occasionwear.
Helen said: 'The first theme was very monotone blue and very inspired by the reinvention of classic fulcrum pieces like the pea coat. The double-breasted coat. Blue and white stripe shirts. Oxford shirts, perfect crew, navy cashmere.
'Good jeans. Elevated every day. Mixed up then with evening 'after six' in satins, namely bodycon bias cut. Very sophisticated, very simple, but sophisticated styling.'
Her second theme taps into nostalgia and country chic, one of the key trends this winter. She said: 'The second very large group is our updated heritage.
'Browns, ochers, tweed, cord mixture. It's a bit of a nineties vibe in this - cord jumpsuits, bootleg and barrel jeans. Tweed mini, quite short skirts juxtaposed with very long skirts. So a definite nineties vibe going on in that collection.'
The final theme of her collection brings glamour, with dressy pieces to wear for all those special occasions, focusing on the colours pink and black.
Helen explains: 'This is our more dressed-up look, and the vibe from that was almost a Hollywood retro glam kind of thing going on. A lot of petunia pink, it's really a shocking pink, in satins and wool creps. Black boucle's structured suitings, neat jackets, fitted, asymmetrical dresses, glamorous trench - that kind of slightly glam Hollywood vibe.'
Not every woman will embrace the collection's bold chaparral pink trouser suit, Helen admits, but she's created versatile ways for those less brave among us to wear the colour.
'It's going to be a very certain type of woman who's going to wear a narrow trouser and rock, a whole chaparral pink trouser suit,' Helen said. 'But I think the way most women will wear this is we've also done cashmere in the chaparral pink, and we've done a little vest top, which would work well by itself with the cardigan.
'We've offered a cardigan piece which is a very versatile piece because it can be worn as a cardigan over the vest, or it can actually be worn as a sweater with the buttons down the back.
'I think the less brave among us, probably myself included, would wear that with the player black trousers, rather than doing the whole pink vibe. But the pink also works very well under in our second group, which is more country. We have an olive green pussy bow blouse in the pink.'
When asked about her personal favourite, Helen has multiple answers, saying: 'I like cord jumpsuit. I'd love the peacoat. I absolutely love the peacoat worn with the shirt and the barrel jeans. I think we're all still in the mood for a barrel. Definitely skinny pants are coming back, but I think the barrel jeans in the Shetland olive green are really easy to wear.
'I like the knit. I like also that we've only offered a knit, I think knit dressing is important for this season. We haven't done a dress, but we've done this tube skirt in the oatmeal, which you see paired with the sweater. It actually reads like a dress and I think they're really easy pieces to look great in. And it looks luxe, but it feels wonderfully comfortable.'
And when it comes to the bigger picture, Helen believes in investing wisely in good quality clothing that will last. She said: 'I think most of these pieces will last in your wardrobe. This is about style, and style is pretty enduring.'
See more of Helen McAlinden's AW25 collection below:
