Saturday 27 October 2012

Opening Pandora's Box: Sinead Lally talks fashion and blogging

Entrepreneur, blogger and fashionista Sinead Lally is the creative force behind Cotton Face Vintage- an online vintage clothing boutique which has amassed a notable following since its launch a year ago. A beauty and fashion expert, Sinead is also responsible for setting up Pandora's Box, Galway's hippest pop up market. I caught up with Sinead to talk vintage fashion, blogging and Sunday mornings in Connemara.




A Galway girl at heart, Sinead loves living in Connemara as "it's just so quiet and peaceful and the scenery is amazing every morning," Although busy working part time in retail as well as running Cotton Face Vintage and Pandora's Box, Sinead also loves the cinema, going to markets and online shopping. "I love tea, cake, strawberries and my cat missy moo moo. I also love Sundays when I'm not hungover, which is often these days now as I much prefer to go to the early bird movies or for a drive and catch a Sunday roast and go for a walk and head home to curl up on the couch and read the Sunday papers,"


Sinead's beloved Missy Moo Moo

Down to earth and approachable, it's not hard to figure out why Sinead's ventures have been so successful given her easy going nature. But there's been a lot of hard work along the way too.

 "I started my first ever blog, Fashion House, in 2008 just after I got made redundant and I had a bit of time on my hands. It was a huge success and I loved it! I got invited to all sorts of events and started working /writing for the The hub online magazine from London and was asked to go to Glastonbury and cover it for them and interview the acts and the fashion.  As I grew up through the blogosphere and reading other amazing blogs, my taste started to change and I got more inspired to do and try new things. I changed the name of my blog to Her Style Diaries and continued blogging from there until I set up my business. Now my blog revolves around my business Cotton Face Vintage,"


A selection of vintage jewellery from Cotton Face Vintage

Sinead explains the motivation behind moving from fashion blogging to fashion retail "With my love for fashion and vintage, I decided I wanted to start a business selling vintage clothes but vintage clothes that my age would wear -something a little unique. So I bought the name and the domains, I went travelling for hand picked pieces and made a lot of connections.  I then set up an office upstairs in my attic room last year and that's where it started and hasn't stopped,"



Those of you (lucky enough to be) living in Galway may be familiar with Pandora's Box- the pop up event which began in Kelly's and is now resident upstairs in Electric Garden. It's chilled out, easy going and fun- the perfect place to have some tea, cake, do some shopping and spot some of the West's coolest kids hanging out.  Sinead explains, "I'm sooo proud of Pandora's box - its something I've wanted to do for a year now , when i first started CFV i used to go to all these events and the Dublin flea markets. I started to think maybe I could do something here in Galway as no one else was doing market style events. I contacted a friend who was working as an event manager Olive Byrne and put my idea to her and we both came up with Pandora's Box."



A fashionable customer browsing at Pandoras Box
"We wanted Pandoras Box to be a place with a chilled out vibe where you come and hang out drink tea and eat cake and listen to some tunes aswell as be able to shop through the stalls. We didnt want a jumble sale feel either, we wanted to show off young talent in galway. We wanted vintage sellers as vintage is just so unique and cool and if you buy something at pandoras box we want it to be a gem! Our venue, upstairs at Electric Garden is perfect as it's in the garden area and has an amazing rustic feel to it."
 
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So now you know all about the lovely Sinead, get your fashionable asses to www.cotton-face-vintage.com and check out her vintage wares..




An edited version of this piece (with some bonus tips on using social media to get ahead professionally) will be in this week's Sin- pick one up on campus at NUIG or check it out online at www.sin.ie

2 comments:

  1. This is a lovely piece, love your writing. CFV is amazing! I hadn't realised all Sinead had accomplished!

    www.pennyandpolaroids.com

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  2. Thank you! She's done loads of interesting stuff so writing this piece was a breeze. Had a look at your blog, love it- am now following:) Thanks for commenting!

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