Oran Aurelio: Racking the Brain of Ireland's Rising Designer

By Fashion Editor Stephen O’Brien

Oran ‘Aurelio’ O’Reilly is a 22 year old fashion designer from Dublin, who has worked with the likes of CMAT, The Last Dinner Party, and most notably Chappell Roan, who in June of this year wore one of his dresses for Kentucky Pride. The Pop Culture Society in UCC, one that I am the Events Officer of, brought him down for an event in October, and I was finally able to sit down with him.

How did you decide on doing Design for Film at IADT?

Oran: I always wanted to be a playwright, that was my main thing. I wanted to go to Juilliard — that sounded so chic to me — and then COVID happened. I was like ‘You know what, I’ll do Trinity drama, and I’ll do Juilliard after’. This was like October and because there were no in-person [interviews], they made you fill out this form to see if you were suitable for the course. But it was nothing to do with writing, there was no chance to submit your work. It was like ‘What’s your favourite play?’. And then I got an email from them saying ‘Hey! We don’t think you’re suitable for the course, take us off your CAO because you’re not gonna get in even if you get the points’.

Laughs

Oran: So, then I was like ‘I’ll be a chef — I’ll be a culinary chef in Botanics.’ Then in the February just before the Leaving Cert I thought ‘What am I doing? I’m gonna be miserable, I don’t really like cooking’. I found my course, ‘Design for Film’: It’s set design, costume design, makeup design, VFX, and prop design. I said, ‘I’ll be a set designer’. Instead of writing the plays you’d be creating the world. I applied for that, got in, and realized I’d need to know how to sew. I got myself a cheap sewing machine, made my first corset two weeks before college, said ‘Oh, this is kinda fun’, and then in college realized ‘This is what I’m meant to do’.

So where did the attention on your work first start?

Oran: Christmas [of 2021] I made my friend Chloe a corset with Natasha Lyonne on it. Natasha posted it on her story, and people were like ‘Can I buy one?’. It was a lot of drag queens asking because it was campy and fun, and I was DMing Bailey J Mills (a British drag queen), sent her over some stuff, heard nothing from her, and then in April I got tagged in a post. It was my first photoshoot, like nice photos. Then it went on her merch, and then I kind of went from there; It was drag queens, then to singers…

You’ve gotten a lot of exposure, how have you been processing that?

Oran: I don’t, I really don’t! It’s because I’m just making my little things in my room. Done, nothing major. The first thing that felt surreal was CMAT, because I met her in Kaph on Drury Street and we had a ‘ki. Then I met her sister and her bandmate, and it was so weird because she was one of my top singers on Spotify. I made her a few looks and I made her a ‘sexy chicken’ look and she wore that to open for Florence & The Machine. I was gone. Florence and Ethel Cain are my two favourite artists of all time; she sent me a video after the concert of Florence being like ‘Oh my God, I love the outfit’ and like joking — sobbed on the Luas on the way home. Like I just could not believe that.

Do you have a specific moment or memory from childhood that you would attribute to getting into fashion?

Oran: I think I’ve always been into fashion just through my mom. She used to work in Brown Thomas and then she worked in BT2, she was a makeup artist. We used to do those face charts for photoshoots because she used to do like, what’s it called? — NOW or VIP, like the [magazine] covers for those Irish celebrities: she used to do the makeup for them… so I’m a nepo-baby. (laughs) She works in a doctor’s office now — guys I’m ok! But she is very into fashion, like she is, to me, Carrie Bradshaw. Like her style, everything. I think through osmosis, and through watching Neighbours and Desperate Housewives with my mom, that got me into campy glamour, I think. But I never really thought I could pursue it…

What is it like being a young designer in Dublin?

Oran: There is so much that goes into it, and I hate saying that because at the end of the day I’m lucky. Most of the people are lovely… most of them. The problem with being young is automatically you’re not respected. And that’s crazy because I used to think ‘No, people aren’t like that’… I’ve heard conversations that are exactly like The Devil Wears Prada, and I’m like not in that world, whatsoever. And I think being a costume designer, but also a fashion designer — I think the fashion girls don’t really get it, and the costume girls are like ‘It’s too fashion-y’. It’s hard to find your niche, but I feel like Dublin is so expansive and there is truly room for everyone. I think it’s even about finding the right people to surround yourself with, and I think I was really scared to reach out to people in Dublin at the start because I thought, ‘They’re not going to fuck with me’. But I’ve made such amazing friends from literally just being like ‘Hey, we should do a photoshoot!’

Do you think that being in Ireland has been a roadblock in fashion? Or has it been a blessing in disguise?

Oran: I think it has been a burden rather than a blessing, only because all of my work is outside Ireland. CMAT and Nell [Mescal] — the outfit I made for Nell was for Paris, and she lives in London. So, it was me sending it over to London for her to wear in Paris. CMAT, I met her in Dublin, but this was for her tour, for Glastonbury. There’s not really a market here, and there is — there’s so many amazing musicians over here and that’s what I love to do, I love to make stuff for performances. But there’s no budget here. There’s a lot of people doing it, but the budgets are all so small that people can’t really collaborate; you’re gonna have to work with management and you’re gonna have to work with stylists, and they’re all over in the UK or America. I think that Ireland is so small and the jobs that are there, people do get jealous over… Which I don’t really understand why. Everyone has their own niche, everyone will find the right job for them.

I’ve seen it as well, so many of my friends are in bands and are moving to London or have planned to move to London; I guess there just isn’t the resources or pathways here.

Oran: I’ve had friends move to London; They’re doing really well over here, and then they move to London and they don’t have connections. Like if you’re from Dublin you can do a gig in Whelans or The Button Factory, like those medium to small size venues. But you’re not going to have those contacts in those spaces [in London]. I don’t know. I think it’s very hard and I think people are under the illusion that ‘Yeah, it’s doing so well, and even the film industries are moving here’, but all those jobs are done outside the country. Like Wednesday is being filmed here, but all the costumes are already made. They’re doing dressers and stuff over here, but that’s not reliable work. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of way to go in terms of having a sustainable career path for those kinds of creatives in Dublin without having to move.

So, how did the Divine dress for Chappell Roan come about?

Oran: I’ve always been obsessed with the weird girls, Divine, John Waters, the 60s, 70s, 80s weird girls I love. I’ve been obsessed with Divine for forever. Then this April I responded to Genesis, Chappell Roan’s stylist being like ‘Oh my God, I love this outfit’ and she goes ‘I love your work, I’m Chappell Roan’s stylist’, which I had no clue about. I was in my head like ‘I would have DMed her already!’. She goes, ‘Would you be interested in making a look for us for this summer, she’s doing all the major festival stops’ and I said, ‘Yes of course’. A few weeks went by, and I didn’t hear anything, and I was kind of like, ‘okay, it’s not happening. That’s fine’. Then I get an email from Genesis saying, ‘Here’s the lookbook. You’re the first one I am sending this to. You can choose anything you want. Don’t show this to anyone’. I was so stressed. I open it up, scroll through it, there was the Swan look she’d already done for Jimmy Fallon, there was the Midwest Princess look. Then the Divine look came up, and I said, ‘Fuck off, this is meant to be’. So I DM her back straight away saying ‘This, I’m doing this.’ She says, ‘Fab, we need it by the 28th’, and this was like the 14th. So I made it as fast as I could. 

I think this is my first time saying this out loud, not to my friends: I made a second look for her. So, the original look was supposed to be Divine in Pink Flamingos, then the second look was underneath, and it was a blue, two-piece tiger print bikini, based on this 60s play Divine did called The Neon Woman. I made that too, but that obviously didn’t work out. Originally it was for Pride at the start of June, but things went wrong, and she changed outfits, and I was like ‘It’s over for me. It’s over, I’m done. My career is over’ and then she was like ‘No, it’s actually for Kentucky Pride’. I was up at 3am on Twitter, looking at #ChappellRoan. I saw her wearing the look, but for some reason I was completely convinced it wasn’t mine. For some reason, seeing it on her, I was like ‘That’s not the look I made. They’ve gotten somebody else to make it’, and especially because it was the leopard print underneath; They went with the original Pink Flamingos look rather than the niche Neon Woman thing.

That’s crazy, I remember I saw it on Twitter before I even knew you made it and was thinking ‘that’s a really good outfit’, and then I saw your story and thought ‘Oh my god!’

Oran: And it was such a special reference to me and my friend Sadbh who’s obsessed with Divine, like [Divine] in Pink Flamingos is her wallpaper on her phone and has been for years. It was such a special, beautiful moment. 

I love your use of prints in your work, like Princess Diana, the Kate Bush one, and all the religious imagery. What are some of your weirder, more specific inspirations?

Oran: The printed stuff is inspired by Vivienne Westwood, who is my favourite designer of all time. She did this collection called ‘Always on Camera’ and it was a Marlene Dietrich print of her lips and eyes; that was the inspo for the Natasha Lyonne corset. Then I was so obsessed with printing — it’s so expensive cause I can’t do it myself, it’s printed on bull denim, it’s not just t-shirt transferable. A good example is what I did with The Last Dinner Party this week; I printed Anna from Possession, Susie from Suspiria, Carrie, Isabelle Hubert in The Piano Teacher, Miss Danvers from Rebecca, and Little Edie. That vibe is —

The strange, cult film girls of the 20th century

Oran: Yeah! That’s what I love! Abigail [from The Last Dinner Party] was obsessed with the Possession dress. They took all [the dresses] with them so they’ll be worn sometime on tour. And Isabelle Hubert in The Piano Teacher is the perfect example of how — Anna wore the Possession dress and I was sitting there watching everyone come into the theatre, and I was like ‘There’s so many children here. If they go home and look up Possession I will feel so bad!’. Even with Pink Flamingos! Like the queer aspect of all those films is funny because people will be like ‘Oh yes! Iconic!’… you haven’t seen the chicken scene… I was even thinking of doing Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream, but I thought that that’s a little too much…

I think the sexiest fabric is suede because it’s skin, it’s so skin-like. I love the iconoclasm of ‘wearing somebody’ — like I wanted Abigail to be wearing the Possession dress, but wearing Isabelle Adjani, wearing the Possession dress. And she got into character straight away, and me and my friend Sadbh were sobbing, cause Abigail did the moves, she was on the ground writhing, and even she was pushing it; she was like ‘Imagine if we had the produce bag!’ People like that who get it and push it further… when you find somebody who gets it, and gets it properly and the references and gets that it’s not just funny — A lot of the media when Chappell did the Divine look talked a lot about drag, but I don’t think Divine is a drag queen as much as just an actor. There’s this intersectionality where people can’t see beyond the drag aspect… And [Divine] wasn’t written as a drag queen [in Pink Flamingos]. Even when I did a dress for Bimini that was Princess Diana, and some people were like ‘Why did an Irish designer put a monarch on a dress?’ and I was like ‘You just don’t get it’. If a British designer puts the monarchy on something it has a completely different context than when an Irish person does it.

And it’s Princess Diana, it’s not like you’re putting on Camilla…

Oran: (laughs) Wait, that would be chic!… I think with Diana, the stronghold she has on the queer community outbalances anything she did do as a monarch. My lecturer, Peter, who is my biggest inspiration of all time, — Before I knew he was my lecturer, he worked in this fashion house called Rocha’s and he did this knit dress that was the inspiration for every single knit dress I did — he always says, ‘You can have your story, but somebody is just gonna see a frock’.

Regarding your close relationship with musicians like CMAT and The Last Dinner Party, you are a big part in fulfilling their artist output. How does that feel to know your work is becoming a part of their iconography?

Oran: I don’t like thinking about that! Only because, Ciara — CMATs sister — sent me a photo when she was in New York of somebody at the merch table in a recreation of the Sexy Chicken outfit, and I started tweaking! I was so obsessed but also - that’s weird! That’s crazy! I don’t draw, I design everything in my head, and I just start cutting. I don’t have these intentions going into it, but I always think about if Ethel or Florence wear a dress I love, how impactful that is to me. Even The Last Dinner Party last night, I was standing at the back of the concert and the audience was going crazy! People were dressed up as them and I was thinking ‘This is people’s favourite artist in the world, and the fact I can make an outfit they might like’… Bonkers!

Yeah, you think of a musician and the outfits are important to their artistry. Like I think of Lana Del Rey with that white dress on SNL in 2012; I don’t know who made it, but it’s such an integral part of her image and artistry… I think people never give the fashion creators the time of day that they deserve.

Oran: I think fashion has enough ego as is! 

Going back to the use of religious imagery, does that come from the Irish experience of religion?

Oran: No, I’m a devout Christian. (laughs) No, I’m kidding. I grew up extremely religious — and when I say that it sounds like my family were, no I was extremely religious! I wanted to be an altar boy! I think growing up… I don’t wanna say that cause it sounds like I’m looking for attention! But growing up mentally ill, the security of God is such a comforting one, does that make sense? I think it transcends actual religion, the security of knowing something is there, beyond a parental figure, like ‘This thing will take care of me’. I consider myself spiritual now in the way that I don’t know what I believe, but I think Catholic imagery is the most beautiful thing in the world. What is so funny is my mom’s grandparents came over from Italy and opened a religious shop on the quays in Dublin, and then my mom’s family sold prosthetic legs and medical equipment on the quays too. And that’s my two biggest things; Medical imagery and religious imagery. I feel somehow that trickled down — I’d never been to the shops! That, and growing up with religious imagery in my grandparents’ house because of the shop, they’re not religious whatsoever. It’s always been such a part of my life to see on the walls, that taking that and kinda making fun of it, but it’s not even making fun of it — there’s still a reverence for it.

Yeah, it’s not mocking it, you’re incorporating it in a fun, tongue-in-cheek way.

Oran: The Vatican is drag, sorry, but it is! And that’s what I do! Even my ‘brand name’ — that is so gauche to say — is Oran Aurelio because ‘Oran O’Reilly’ is already a dress designer who sold in Om Diva where some of my first things were. So, I had to change it, I was like ‘I’ll go with my confirmation name’ cause that’s the name of my mom’s great-uncle: Aurelio, cause they’re Italian. But my brand name is literally my confirmation name!

This actually leads into the last question; would you say that a lot of your interest in fashion comes from your family?

Oran: Yes, oh my God, completely! Like my sisters are so chic. Even my dad is such a good business-head, he’ll always be like ‘Make a TikTok. I don’t care about Instagram, Instagram only has X amount of users. TikTok has this many, make a TikTok’. They are my biggest supporters, but also, they don’t give a fuck! They’re like ‘…okay?’ My mom, my best friend, my biggest inspiration, and that sounds so ‘Momma’s boy’ but all my friends are obsessed with her. She is the queen of all queens. She’s always like ‘I used to love the George’. I love her, I always ask her input on anything I make. She’s my fit model for anything that might be her size. I’m trying to do a TikTok of making the Possession dress and it’s just videos of her dancing around in Abigail’s dress. Chappell’s dress was fitted on her. And she loves it, because she loves fashion. I worked with The Last Dinner Party when they opened for Hozier in December, and in January they did the Tommy Tiernan Show, but I was in Cork working on a short film. They were like ‘Can we borrow some stuff’ and I thought ‘Oh fuck’. I contacted my mom and said ‘Would you please, please, please go to RTÉ and drop some stuff. Don’t go in, you’re dropping it at reception and going home’. She goes ‘Oh, ummmm, ok’. It sounds like I hate her; I love her, but I was just like ‘What’s she gonna do?’, because she’s such a queen that I don’t want her upstaging me! But she went in, spent the whole day in the green room, started talking to the producer of the Tommy Tiernan Show saying like ‘My son made those’, and the producer was like ‘Oh, my husband is the producer of the Oliver Callan Show, I’d love to get him on’. So that’s how I got that, and then from that I got interview after interview, and that’s all because my mom networked the fuck out of the Tommy Tiernan green room. And when I saw The Last Dinner Party on Monday they were like ‘your mom…’ and I was like ‘I know! I’m so sorry if she was embarrassing.’ She’s always like ‘How’s Lizzie? How’s Aurora?’ But she loves it, she loves the glamour. I relate all my recent success to that day in Cork when she was networking.

So I guess Cork’s a blessing?

Oran: Truly!