By Danica Kirka | Related Press
Paul Costelloe, the Irish-American designer who dressed the late Princess Diana and have become a stalwart of the London trend scene, has died, his firm confirmed. He was 80.
Along with creating night put on and different designs for Diana, Costelloe established a trend home that celebrated luxurious materials and creativity. He labored in central London and with a family-owned manufacturing website within the Ancona area of central Italy.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Paul Costelloe following a short illness,’’ his label said in a statement on Saturday. “He was surrounded by his wife and seven children and passed peacefully in London.”
Born in Dublin in 1945, Costelloe was the son of a tailor who made raincoats at a manufacturing unit within the metropolis’s Rathmines district. He bought his personal begin within the business on the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture trend faculty in Paris, however firm lore suggests he realized as a lot by absorbing the period of designers Emanuel Ungaro and Pierre Cardin as he did within the classroom.
Costelloe started his profession as an assistant to designer Jacques Esterel and later moved to Milan to work for British retailer Marks & Spencer when it tried to crack the Italian market. Although that effort was unsuccessful, he stayed in Milan to work for the luxurious division retailer La Rinascente.
Costelloe later moved to america, the place he labored as a designer for the Anne Fogarty label.
He went on to determine his personal agency, and the home now contains a broad vary, together with womenswear, menswear, luggage and equipment.
In 1983, Costelloe was appointed private designer to Princess Diana — an affiliation that continued till her loss of life in 1997.
Costelloe’s royal connection started when certainly one of Diana’s ladies-in-waiting seen his designs and organized a gathering, the designer instructed Irish broadcaster RTE earlier this yr.
“I looked out at Hyde Park and I said: ‘God, this is it, Paul, you have made it!’” Costelloe recalled.
