John Rocha will be honoured in Galway with the ‘Contribution to Irish Fashion Award’ at the Golden Egg ‘Irish Fashion Innovation Awards’ which takes place in the Radisson BLU hotel on March 18th.

On the back of his stunning success at London Fashion week where he celebrated 25 years with an outstanding Autumn/Winter Collection, John Rocha will be honoured in Galway with the ‘Contribution to Irish Fashion Award’ at the Golden Egg ‘Irish Fashion Innovation Awards’ which take place in the Radisson BLU hotel on March 18th.

John Rocha moved from Hong Kong to London in the 1970’s to study fashion and his choice of Irish linen for his graduate collection inspired an eventual move to Dublin in the 1980’s where he has lived for the past twenty-two years, working closely with his wife and business partner Odette. John’s own distinctive style has evolved by constantly experimenting with fabric, silhouette and technique, yielding beautifully worked embellishments and garments that give a truly special and eclectic appeal to his collections. Over the years he has expanded his portfolio to include interiors, architecture, crystal and jewellery. John has received many awards including ‘British Designer of the Year’ and a CBE in recognition of his long-standing contribution to the fashion industry. But it’s Rocha’s constant innovation and highlighting of Irish crafts and materials in his creations that ensured John a worthy winner of this year’s ‘Contribution to Irish Fashion Award’ and those attending the event will have the chance to view his Spring/Summer 2010 collection at the show.

The Irish Fashion Innovation Awards aim to help showcase and provide recognition for talented Irish designers and fashion students. All the finalists in the hotly-contested ‘Designer of the year’ category will also be in attendance and take their collections to the catwalk on the night. Among them are some of the most exciting and up and coming names in Irish fashion: Joanne Hynes, Helen James, Eilish Boyle, Yasmin Vellosa and Heather Finn.

Sharing the catwalk will be the finalists in the ‘Student’, ‘Accessory’ and ‘Jewellery’ designer of the year categories coming from Dublin, Galway, Mayo, Leitrim, Waterford, Derry, Donegal and Cavan. The brief for entries was to develop their design with ‘Galway’ as the theme and they will be judged by some of the most respected names in the Irish fashion industry including International award-wining jewellery designer, Slim Barrett, famed for designing Victoria Beckham’s wedding tiara and for having designs commissioned by host of leading international designers and celebrities, Deirdre McQuillan, Irish Times fashion editor, Fashion guru Eddie Shanahan and TG4’s ‘Paisean Faisean’ presenter Blathnaid Ni Dhonnchadha.

The awards are a celebration of Golden Egg’s tenth year in business. The company who publish the magazines Galwaynow, Limericknow, and Weddingsnow felt they wanted to give visibility, support and a voice to young Irish talent and the ‘Irish Fashion Innovation Awards’ certainly offers a fantastic opportunity for fashion students to highlight their work.

A fundraising raffle will be held during the show in aid of The National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI). Tickets are €40, and can be purchased by contacting Golden Egg directly T: 091 384350, W: www.goldenegg.ie