THE Peter Mark VIP Style Awards may be hailed as the Irish style Oscars, with social climbers clamouring every year to get their hands on a precious invitation.

Recession-friendly fashion set to reign at VIP Style Awards

THE Peter Mark VIP Style Awards may be hailed as the Irish style Oscars, with social climbers clamouring every year to get their hands on a precious invitation.

But last year's winner Andrea Roche has revealed to the Diary how our glamour queens will be ditching ostentatious bling in favour of recession-friendly fashion choices.

It seems that the celebrity attendees will be taking a leaf out of Miriam O'Callaghan and Kathryn Thomas's book and giving their style-gems a second airing.

And a few guests, shock horror, will even be saving a few euros by borrowing their outfits.

"There is definitely a different vibe in the run-up to this year's awards. People are losing their jobs all over the country and in some cases risk losing their homes. I think a lot of people have to be more frugal when it comes to these types of events," said Andrea.

"In previous years, some of the ladies could have easily spent thousands of euros on their dress and jewellery. Normally, you wouldn't be seen dead in the same dress that you wore to a previous high-profile event. But this year, the feeling I'm getting is that a lot of the dresses will be borrowed by nominees and we could also see some stuff being worn for the second time."

FLUFFY>

Andrea, who will be wearing Joanne Hynes, revealed how Aria boutique in Naas are loaning several TV3 stars their finest Ben de Lisi designs.

Georgina Ahern is expected to plump for a creation by her favourite designer, Synan O'Mahony. Leigh Arnold is rumoured to be going for Helen Cody while Sybil Mulcahy is wearing a Kathy de Stafford outfit.

Andrea continued: "Despite what's happening economically, I think the public still like to see other people getting out there and making the effort to turn on the glam.

"To me, winning it was a fluffy compliment and a bit of fun. If you take it too seriously you're always going to be disappointed and not enjoy what's a great night out. It's such a small pond of celebrities in Ireland that most people on the list are probably going to win it at some stage! So it becomes more like a waiting game than anything else."

This year sees 34 nominees competing for three different categories as they battle it out for most stylish woman, man and celebrity couple.

While the overall winner is picked by readers of VIP magazine, it's still worth dressing up to nines for the party in the Shelbourne on March 6.

Organisers will be giving away an accolade for whoever is deemed the 'Best Dressed on the Night', meaning competition will be fierce among the fashion-forward guests.

This year's nominees include Rosanna Davison, Colette Fitzpatrick, Amy Huberman, the Seoige sisters and Victoria Smurfit. Nominations for the most stylish couple award include Miriam Ahern and Terry McCoy, alongside Anne Doyle and Dan McGrattan and Pippa O'Connor and Brian Ormond.

When it comes to our most dapper gentleman, in the running are Westlife's Nicky Byrne, Olympic champ Kenny Egan, chat-show host Ryan Tubridy and panto star Brian Dowling.

THE Peter Mark VIP Style Awards may be hailed as the Irish style Oscars, with social climbers clamouring every year to get their hands on a precious invitation.

Recession-friendly fashion set to reign at VIP Style Awards

THE Peter Mark VIP Style Awards may be hailed as the Irish style Oscars, with social climbers clamouring every year to get their hands on a precious invitation.

But last year's winner Andrea Roche has revealed to the Diary how our glamour queens will be ditching ostentatious bling in favour of recession-friendly fashion choices.

It seems that the celebrity attendees will be taking a leaf out of Miriam O'Callaghan and Kathryn Thomas's book and giving their style-gems a second airing.

And a few guests, shock horror, will even be saving a few euros by borrowing their outfits.

"There is definitely a different vibe in the run-up to this year's awards. People are losing their jobs all over the country and in some cases risk losing their homes. I think a lot of people have to be more frugal when it comes to these types of events," said Andrea.

"In previous years, some of the ladies could have easily spent thousands of euros on their dress and jewellery. Normally, you wouldn't be seen dead in the same dress that you wore to a previous high-profile event. But this year, the feeling I'm getting is that a lot of the dresses will be borrowed by nominees and we could also see some stuff being worn for the second time."

FLUFFY>

Andrea, who will be wearing Joanne Hynes, revealed how Aria boutique in Naas are loaning several TV3 stars their finest Ben de Lisi designs.

Georgina Ahern is expected to plump for a creation by her favourite designer, Synan O'Mahony. Leigh Arnold is rumoured to be going for Helen Cody while Sybil Mulcahy is wearing a Kathy de Stafford outfit.

Andrea continued: "Despite what's happening economically, I think the public still like to see other people getting out there and making the effort to turn on the glam.

"To me, winning it was a fluffy compliment and a bit of fun. If you take it too seriously you're always going to be disappointed and not enjoy what's a great night out. It's such a small pond of celebrities in Ireland that most people on the list are probably going to win it at some stage! So it becomes more like a waiting game than anything else."

This year sees 34 nominees competing for three different categories as they battle it out for most stylish woman, man and celebrity couple.

While the overall winner is picked by readers of VIP magazine, it's still worth dressing up to nines for the party in the Shelbourne on March 6.

Organisers will be giving away an accolade for whoever is deemed the 'Best Dressed on the Night', meaning competition will be fierce among the fashion-forward guests.

This year's nominees include Rosanna Davison, Colette Fitzpatrick, Amy Huberman, the Seoige sisters and Victoria Smurfit. Nominations for the most stylish couple award include Miriam Ahern and Terry McCoy, alongside Anne Doyle and Dan McGrattan and Pippa O'Connor and Brian Ormond.

When it comes to our most dapper gentleman, in the running are Westlife's Nicky Byrne, Olympic champ Kenny Egan, chat-show host Ryan Tubridy and panto star Brian Dowling.