Jaimie Caron
Business of Fashion
“Buyers will be taking pieces from designers to put into high street stores so they need a respect and understanding of the design process. That’s what I’m here to give” – Jaimie Caron, Advance Design Skills Tutor, Fashion Department, Portobello Institute.
About
Fashion and design have been a part of Jaimie Carron’s life from a very early age.
“Well, I ran a fashion business from 5th class,” says Jaimie, who is an Advanced Design Skills tutor at Portobello Institute.
That early business involved Jaimie designing and producing jewellery for classmates and beyond and it picked up substantial notoriety.
“It grew throughout the time I was in college. I got to collaborate with Swarovski. I won the Junior Enterprise competition for Ireland. I did Dragon’s Den.”
While it was jewellery design that first piqued her interest she has since moved away from the area.
“Absolutely loved jewellery design. Had planned to go into that and then pivoted to fashion design, manufacturing and textile development”.
Jaimie has a degree in Fashion Design and Textile Development from the Limerick School of Art and Design, a constituent school of Limerick Institute of Technology.
She has completed an internship with Alanagh Clegg and her company, Four Threads, a fashion business that puts sustainability at the forefront of their work.
Sustainable and ethical fashion is a big priority for Jaimie, who lists one of her main influences as Iris van Herpen. She also lists the likes of Chanel and Dior “but Iris van Herpen would be the main one. She works with 3D printing and it’s zero waste, all sustainable”.
Domestically, Jaimie mentions the likes of Aoife McNamara, Colin Horgan and Alanagh Clegg as some of the leading figures, for her, in the Irish fashion design industry. When asked if she has aspirations of joining them in the future, Jaimie says:
“Absolutely. I’ve always wanted to head in that direction eventually. But for the minute I want to get my Master’s degree and I can do that alongside this (tutoring at Portobello) which is perfect.”
As mentioned, Jaimie joins Portobello Institute as an Advanced Design Skills tutor.
“Basically, what I’ll be doing is teaching from start to finish what the process is for manufacturing a garment. So, this would be for fashion and merchandising. Buyers will be taking pieces from designers to put into high street stores, so they need respect and understanding of the design process. That’s what I’m here to give”.
The fashion department at Portobello Institute is growing and this is a key factor for Jaimie.
“Getting in at the minute it’s the excitement of watching the place grow and seeing what will come of everything and everyone.”
Past testimonials of students were another enticing aspect of the role.
“Seeing stories from the graduates of the fashion programme, it seemed like a very innovative way of teaching this course, which I haven’t seen before. All of that really just drew me in.”
Qualifications
- QQI Level 6 Training Delivery and Evaluation
- Limerick School of Art and Design – BA Honours Degree in Fashion Design
