Six Questions with House of Hannigan

 

Who is Christopher O’Reilly and what is House of Hannigan?

I am a designer from Ireland living in London with a love for fashion, film and music. I am particularly influenced by POP in every sense of the word. The House of Hannigan at the minute is myself, photographer James Gulliver and a small selection of our friends, all with different talent’s my logo is being professionally redone by Graphic’s student Emma Morgan and for the last month Rebecca Cowing has been promoting my clothing to agents and celebrities with the goal to get my designs on the red carpet. I hope The House of Hannigan will become a creative hub for artists and designers to showcase their individual work while working with a likeminded team on much bigger projects.

As a designer, what is your vision of fashion and how do you bring that vision into your work?

I view fashion as art as well as clothing. When I design, I design for a character which usually reflects the mood or place I am in at the time. I also like to design garments with film in mind. I hope to take my career into designing wardrobe for film and giving writers and directors characters life through how they dress while taking into account where they came from. I have a love for human nature.

What do you see as your greatest achievement so far in your present line?

I have two. One would be that when I was younger I have always wanted to try to change people’s perspective on 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland (where I grew up) and with my last collection 'The Troubles with Northern Ireland - It's A Riot' I feel like I made a good start. I got to showcase my collection at Belfast, Fall for Fashion and was honored to open the Graduate Catwalk. In more recent history, one of the dresses from my collection has been worn by 'Made in Chelsea' star Gabriella Ellis for her Debut music video for the song 'Fight'. It has been my dream since forever to have my clothing or be involved creatively in a music video. I am so happy Gabriella gave me this opportunity. She is a Rock Star in the making!

How did you start The House of Hannigan?

I originally launched The House of Hannigan in May 2011. I had been commissioned to make an American Flag Dress for The Oonagh Boman Makeup Excellence Awards and thought it was the best time to get all of my work together on one place for people to see my last collection and work from university. From this the response I have gotten has been overwhelming. At the end of September 2011 I am having a re-launch as thanks to the hard PR work of Rebecca Cowing I have one of my garments in a music video which I hope will get me the press and recognition to find myself a job in a design house of the funding to start a new collection. The name 'House of -Hannigan' has come from my teen idol Alyson Hannigan.

Can our readers find videos of any of your past showings?

on my website 'http: //thehouseofhanniganltd.yolasite.com/' you will find everything in its own section and easy to use. I especially like the 3rd video in the 'Menswear' tab but it’s worth watching all three if you get the chance.

What major events do you have coming up?

London Fashion Week is just round the corner. As head of menswear on www.fashioncapital.co.uk I plan to do most of the menswear day shows but try to get into as many women swear shows as I possibly can. I have a shoot of my Water Dress coming up at the end of September alongside the launch of a photo-shoot of my collection which was shot in a church by aspiring young fashion photographer James Gulliver. The Water Dress is also being used in a new Irish Campaign for Banshee Legend Whiskey which will launch in Dublin, France and Monaco later this year. At the minute I am really trying to promote what I have before taking on the challenge of a new collection. Networking is really important to me as if you see that people believe in you and your work then it encourages you to want to do more and see what boundaries you can push next time will be.

 

 

 

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