Clothes are how we express our inner selves to the outside world – but what if a non-standard body, identity or personality makes it impossible to buy clothes that really fit, flatter or flaunt a unique style?
RTE 2’s exciting new series “The Fitting Room”, presented by Paddy Smyth, is on a mission to prove fashion can be fun and accessible for everyone – celebrating difference and ripping open the seams of what makes us individual.
In each programme a trio of extraordinarily talented Irish designers and stylists (Ruedi Maguire, Zoë Carol Wong and Ciara O’Doherty) will invite members of the public into the creative hub, to help solve their clothing conundrums by creating bespoke outfits that will help how they look on the outside match how they feel on the inside.
This ground breaking series will turn what we think and know about style and identity on its head.
The Fitting Room is a 6-part series, and will air on Mondays at 9:30pm from 15th April on RTÉ2.
Episode 3
This episode’s three participants in The Fitting Room are: Amy Purcell from Kildare, Noah Halpin from Dublin and Yvette Kennedy also from Dublin.
Amy Purcell has Down Syndrome and lives with her mum Josephine and dad Paddy. She works in a hairdressers and loves having her hair styled, and her nails manicured. Clothing can be difficult for Amy as she is quite short – under 5ft. She is also between sizes so her mum has to get most of her clothing altered and either taken in or let out. All her trousers have to be taken up too.
Noah Halpin is in the process of transitioning from female to male. He has started hormone treatment after waiting for 4 years, and recently took his second injection of testosterone. He has been surprised and excited by how quickly the changes his body have started happening. Noah finds it difficult to find men’s clothes to suit him, and with his changing body and identity Noah needs help finding clothing to reflect the new person he is becoming.
Yvette Kennedy is small with a big personality and even bigger love of fashion. She’s not quite a shopaholic but admits to shopping for clothes every second week and says she’s been chasing the perfect pair of jeans all her life. The big problem for Yvette is her size. Almost every single thing she buys has to be altered – trousers, coats, blouses… even things from the petite ranges. As the owner of a dry cleaners and launderette, she is always checking the labels of items left in for dry cleaning to see where they came from. She also follows loads of fashion bloggers and Facebook pages to do with clothes. Yvette would love to wear a jumpsuit or midi-dress but can’t find one to fit.