'Sustainability is important to me': Kilkenny fashion designers set to exhibit their work at NCAD exhibition
Lizzie McGee and Izzy Evans attended Loreto Secondary School where they studied art
Lizzie McGee and Izzy Evans, final year Fashion Design students at the National College of Art and Design (“NCAD”), are exhibiting their graduate collections at the NCAD Works 2026 Graduate Exhibition this week.
Ms McGee, from Kilkenny City, and Ms Evans, from Thomastown, both attended Loreto Secondary School where they studied art.
“We both did art in Loreto and loved it. I think that was a big part of why we chose to come to NCAD,” says Ms Evans.
Ms McGee has experience working with Irish Fashion Designer Rashhiiid in both her Dublin and Paris studios. She also worked at Paris Fashion Week for Belgian designer Julie Kegels and at the Paul Costello and Graduate shows during the inaugural Ireland Fashion Week. She will be participating in Ireland Fashion Week 2026 as a graduate designer. Her graduate collection Break the String “explores the belief that people are controlled by societal standards and expectations in a similar way to how a puppet master controls a marionette” and “embraces the significance of breaking the string.”
Ms McGee says: “I was sort of inspired by my positive childhood perspective on the world compared to societal restrictions that we face as young adults in Ireland—like the housing crisis, cost of living, things like that—and then trying to bring those elements into the project.”
Ms Evans’ collection Loinnir was inspired by her younger brother and his love of the beach. She says: “He has cerebral palsy, so he really loves the sensorial element of being outside, on the beach in particular. My project is all about trying to recreate the textures and feel of sitting beside the seaside. I suppose it’s quite a simple idea, but my aim with the project was to recreate a very literal look of the sea and surrounding landscape in the pieces.”
On her medium, Ms Evans says: “Sustainability is quite important to me, so I was trying to use waste yarn and sustainable materials.” Ms Evans is planning to undertake a Master’s in Design Thinking for Sustainability at University College Dublin. She completed her erasmus year at Manchester Metropolitan University where she specialised in knitwear.
Break the String and Loinnir are on exhibition at the National College of Art & Design from June 5–13, 2026.