Welcome to Holy Chic

Welcome to Holy Chic

Hey girls!

So this is it, my very first blog post! I’ve thought about what I’d write in this post for some time and when I found myself struggling to decide whether to write Hello Ladies, Hey Dolls or Hi Girls as the opening to this post I put my foot down and made an agreement with myself to stop overthinking things and write this from the heart, just like how I envisaged my blog! 12096622_10205042045708054_6499899098692094048_n

Just like the tag line says, Holy Chic is born from my passion for fashion and in this post I really just wanted to introduce myself and give you an idea of my background in a bit of detail. I hope it gives you an idea of what my blog and I are like. For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with fashion and playing dress up. My mam was a fashion designer and studied in the Grafton Academy in Dublin so I would try and mimick her designs in my notepads, imagining the most fabulous gowns for my Barbie dolls and as I grew older I was convinced I would be a designer in Paris or Milan when I grew up, ha ha!! It turned out my imagination was much wilder than my creative abilities and of course, secondary school knocked all the confidence out of me anyway, as it does to so many children.

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Credit: pinterest.com

I’ve always had an interest in fashion, beauty, celebrities and the Irish social scene and when I moved from Kildare to Wexford at the age of 11, I shocked my peers when I talked about Dolce & Gabbana instead of Penneys! I cringe when I think back on it but it makes sense now. We all have dreams and ambitions, probably more so when we’re younger than now, but one of mine came true when I opened Glitterati Boutique in 2012. I was just 17 years old and was studying for my Leaving Cert exams. I had this dream of a dress hire boutique, working for myself and putting college on the back burner. The idea didn’t need much to get off the ground at first so I just ran with it and with hard work, a bit of luck and a lot of support from my circle, I opened 2 boutiques and enjoyed super success with Glitterati! From dressing some of Ireland’s top models, to appearing on Xposè and competing in Junior Dragons Den, I had the time of my life & learned so much along the way.

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(Top L-R) Glitterati Boutique; Rachel Wallace modelling for Xposè; our stand at the regional Junior Dragons Den;  with our Strawberry Princess Chloe Ennis & Rosanna Davison; local press

I then moved to New Look, one of our favourite high street retailers. I LOVED the time I spent there and probably didn’t realise that enough until I had left.. 🙁 I started as a Sales Assistant and worked my way up to merchandising the menswear department. I got such a buzz from laying out the store, deciding how to style the outfits and being inspired by quirky ways of laying it all out in the bays. When I decided to go to college I went back to working weekends and I would cover the top floor on my own, (menswear, maternity, plus size and teens so it was a real mix!). I thrived off this too – overseeing an entire floor on my own, whether that was being flat out trying to look after tills, fitting rooms and the floor all at once, really multitasking; or if it was quieter and I would be working through leftover deliveries or making sure the floor was up to ‘Model Store’ standards (anyone that knows what Model Store is, will have just shuddered at the sound of those words!!!) I really loved it there, the team was such good craic and we had the best fun together! If you ever want to experience what retail is REALLY like, working for a high street retailer, especially during peek times like Christmas and Sales is the best experience you’ll ever get!

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Memories from New Look ❤️

For now I’m working as a stylist in La Crème Boutique in Gorey. La Crème is one of Ireland’s  top specialists for Mother of the Bride/Groom style and proprietor Marian McKenna is one of the most inspirational women I’ve ever met. She has set the bar high when it comes to entrepreneurs that I aspire to. Marian opened La Crème’s sister store LC2 in 2014 and it’s a new, unique experience in shopping. I’ve gained invaluable styling experience here and I love seeing a woman’s whole body language change and face light up when you find them the perfect outfit and tweak it to perfection for them. They learn so much in just maybe 1 hour in La Crème and their reactions of total happiness and gratitude mean more to me than any salary.9ece90157b6791bb192d9837b129abdb

 

This being my 21st year, I’ve made a promise to myself to attempt to do all of the things that I’ve longed to do and, as the book says, feel the fear and do it anyway! I hope that people enjoy reading and following Holy Chic as much as I know I will have writing and updating it! I’d love to hear people’s suggestions on what you’d like to read about and all feedback is welcome. Remember, this is my blog, my interpretation of fashion and what inspires me so I don’t expect it to appeal to everyone’s tastes. If it does, I’m delighted & appreciate the support. If not, I’m sure there’s another blog that will jingle your bells 😛

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Who else loves these motivational quotes?!

If you’ve made it this far, well done, you deserve a cuppa now!! And I promise that my blogs won’t usually be this long! 😋

See you in the next post & feel free to follow me through the ‘Lets Get Social’ links on the right!

Love, Denise x

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