The Diary: Big fashion race to bag the leather boots

However, last Wednesday morning, we nearly needed a medic at Brown Thomas in Grafton Street because of the number of women who literally stopped breathing when they saw Riccardo's latest SS15 offerings.

The light-headed sensation was a fashion sugar rush, triggered by satorial eye candy, at the bi-annual Brown Thomas fashion press preview show. The root cause of us uniformly forgetting to breath, and looking open-mouthed with desire, was the Givenchy black chiffon tunic dress worn with thigh-high, black leather, over-the-knee, laced-up shoe boots.

These beauties will cost over €2K when they arrive in store and the pair that almost triggered a stampede on Wednesday were samples flown in from Paris.

Glamazon model Sarah McGovern - who is still fielding compliments for her Peter O'Brien one-off wedding dress - gave it welly wearing the hot, rock chic look. She leaned back, threw out those legs and sashayed through Darren Feeney's cleverly designed catwalk installation with a rangy walk and side-to-side, hip swivel. "These boots are actually very easy to get in and out of. The key thing is to have the laces on the shoe part open," said Sarah when we rushed over to investigate her outfit close up.

Fighting snow and wind to get to the store for the 8am breakfast certainly paid off. Celia Holman-Lee travelled from Limerick and stylist Marietta Doran bounded in the door at 7.55am with the biggest smile. "I've been up since 5am and I was on the road at 6am from Carlow to make sure that the weather didn't stop me," said Marietta, who I met earlier in the week, doing a Golden Globes 'hit and miss' frocks assessment at TV3's Ireland AM last Monday.

We disagreed that morning about the merits of Sienna Miller's Miu Miu outfit and Amal Alamuddin in Dior, which I loved and she hated, but we've made up.

Marietta and the other 50 guests were welcomed by Stephen Sealey, MD of the Brown Thomas group and its fashion director, Shelly Corkery. It was like an Olympic dash after the show, when stylists and editors raced to try and secure first use of the key pieces.

And speaking of athletic dashes and the odd elbow, I met Paul Galvin for a lunchtime cup of tea, and the former Kerry footballer was looking dapper in his usual, customised pieces. He has taken a scissors to so many things to give them a personalised look - he will fit in very well this fashion season as raw edges are de -rigeur.

We met for coffee at Dakota, and after a 2014 publishing success which saw his book go to number one in some stores over Christmas, he is full of fashion ideas and discussed the highs and lows of the London men's collections.

Afterwards, me and my Jimmy Choos took ourselves off to River Island's Mexican-themed press day where I bumped into 2fm DJ Ruth Scott. She was full of beans and is thrilled for her co-presenter, Paddy McKenna who has become a dad and has named his son Michael.

- BP

Charismatic carrot-top Gleeson clan bring the house down

"We should all storm the stage and kiss them," actress Amy Huberman said excitedly in the foyer of Dublin's Olympia Theatre. "It was 'Kiss A Ginger Day' this week after all."

Huberman was, of course, referring to the charismatic carrot-topped Gleeson acting clan, who took to the stage on Wednesday night for the premiere of Enda Walsh's The Walworth Farce.

The quick-fire comedy features plenty of slapstick violence, belly laughs and camp cross-dressing sequences. Always a good mix.

"It's a sort of a halfway house between horror and hilarity," Domhnall noted.

The auditorium was heaving with movie makers and theatre luuvies.

Director Lenny Abrahamson, actor Peter Coonan and blue-eyed boy Cillian Murphy were all in the stalls. Meanwhile, broadcasters Joe Duffy, Pat Kenny and writer Paul Howard sat in the circle.

"The grand old lady is looking well," Kenny noted as he glanced around the building.

Pat is gearing up for his big UTV Ireland show which will hit our goggle-boxes in April.

"It's a work not-in-progress," he said. "Because we have nothing decided. It's going to be a pretty frenetic few weeks but I can't wait to get stuck in."

Ingénue Sarah Greene and her other half Hobbit actor Aidan Turner were beaming as they wound through the crowd.

Greene is busy shooting Gothic drama Ripper Street with Josh Hartnett. Speaking of Hollywood heartthrobs, Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul had taken in the show during his whistle-stop tour of the country and said it was "the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed".

Near the iconic Maureen's Bar, I spotted golf champ Padraig Harrington, singer Lisa Lambe,RSA chairperson Liz O'Donnell and Charlie actor Laurence Kinlan.

The final curtain fell to rapturous applause.

"I've missed the atmosphere and the wall of sound that comes back at you from the audience," Brendan said. "There's nothing like it."

- KBK

Science gala dinner sparks up January

The new US Ambassador to Ireland, attorney Kevin O'Malley from St Louis was among the guests attending the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition's gala dinner at the RDS, which has emerged as the highlight of the January social calendar.

The black tie event saw more than 250 people celebrate the 51st year of the exhibition and there was a glossy smattering of familiar faces from the worlds of politics, TV, business and science.

The British Ambassador to Ireland, Dominick Chilcott, attended, and former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, was keynote speaker on the night. I spotted Patrick Coveney and his wife Emma and the chief executive of BT Ireland, Colm O'Neill, and his wife Caoimhe, pictured above.

Guests enjoyed a champagne reception in the Library followed by a three-course meal in the RDS Concert Hall, including a delicious goat's cheese and beetroot starter followed by steak. Claire Byrne looked gorgeous in a full-length purple gown and Farrah Fawcett hair.

Guests were entertained by the male-voice harmony group, 4 in a Bar, who sang a bewilderingly wide selection of classical, pop and barbershop, while the Brazillian-inspired band, MaSamba, brought some Latin magic to the evening and got everyone up dancing.

- BP

Hozier's modest masterclass

The nation's favourite "gangly introvert" and global superstar, Hozier, stopped by Dublin's music school BIMM this week to share his success story with the college's BA students. The songwriter talked about covering pop princess Ariana Grande's tracks, appearing on David Letterman's late night chat show and hitting those high notes when performing 'Take Me To Church'. Sadly, there was no chat about his trademark man bun.

After all the buzz of 2015, it sounds like the next 12 months are going to be even more hectic for the charming young man. "I have a schedule that tells me what I am doing every single day for the next year," he said. "I don't like looking at it because it freaks me out. I leave that sort of stuff to my manager."

An array of magnetic musicians have taken part in these masterclasses, including Danny O'Donoghue from The Script, rockabilly babe Imelda May, Cathy Davey and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon.

The session wrapped with the Hozier performing an acoustic version of 'Cherry Wine'. Having stumbled over one or two of the lyrics, he mumbled: "My head's all over the place. I'm glad none of you actually paid to be here."

- KBK

All eyes on the beautiful Kingdom as the style squad head to Kerry

"it's better than Botox," declares fashion designer and artist, Helen Steele, hooting with laughter after I admired her impressive ice queen bangs - a deep fringe in silver with steely blue flashes.

The hair moment came on Wednesday afternoon as we were challenged by gusting Storm Rachel, posing for photos outside Dublin's Fitzwilliam Hotel.

The view from our penthouse of the tree canopy over St Stephen's Green was stunning, but we were too busy trying to police flying fringes to savour the skyline for long. We were there for a photocall with Pawel Nowak, the talented Kerry-based photographer whose work has been featured by Italian Vogue. The photocall was to announce the judging panel for the seventh annual Kerry Fashion Week which runs March 2-6.

Helen, last year's winner of the KFW Irish Fashion Designer award, seems to be dressing women around the world! She is showing in Paris this year and is also off to meet clients in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In Ireland, her printed scarves sell out quickly in Costume on Castle Market.

Joining us at the photocall was fashion stylist and advisor, Aisling Farinella, the doting mum of four-month-old Franca, and when I enquired about the unusual, gorgeous name, the new mum explained: "She was named after my aunt."

Keeping us on all our toes will be chairperson, Melanie Morris, editor-in-chief at Image Publications, who maintains that "KFW always marks the start of the fashion and social season".

Orla Diffley, who started KFW in 2007, has invited Umit Kutluk to show his collection at Killarney's Europe Hotel on March 6. Umit did a wonderful job dressing Ollwyn Moran of Creeper Crawlers for the Golden Globes.

Lucky girl: she only brunched with Jamie Dornan in LA!

- BP

All eyes on the beautiful Kingdom as the style squad head to Kerry

"It's better than Botox," declares fashion designer and artist, Helen Steele, hooting with laughter after I admired her impressive ice queen bangs - a deep fringe in silver with steely blue flashes.

The hair moment came on Wednesday afternoon as we were challenged by gusting Storm Rachel, posing for photos outside Dublin's Fitzwilliam Hotel.

The view from our penthouse of the tree canopy over St Stephen's Green was stunning, but we were too busy trying to police flying fringes to savour the skyline for long. We were there for a photocall with Pawel Nowak, the talented Kerry-based photographer whose work has been featured by Italian Vogue. The photocall was to announce the judging panel for the seventh annual Kerry Fashion Week which runs March 2-6.

Helen, last year's winner of the KFW Irish Fashion Designer award, seems to be dressing women around the world! She is showing in Paris this year and is also off to meet clients in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In Ireland, her printed scarves sell out quickly in Costume on Castle Market.

Joining us at the photocall was fashion stylist and advisor, Aisling Farinella, the doting mum of four-month-old Franca, and when I enquired about the unusual, gorgeous name, the new mum explained: "She was named after my aunt."

Keeping us on all our toes will be chairperson, Melanie Morris, editor-in-chief at Image Publications, who maintains that "KFW always marks the start of the fashion and social season".

Orla Diffley, who started KFW in 2007, has invited Umit Kutluk to show his collection at Killarney's Europe Hotel on March 6. Umit did a wonderful job dressing Ollwyn Moran of Creeper Crawlers for the Golden Globes.

Lucky girl: she only brunched with Jamie Dornan in LA!

- BP

Puffins and remote parenting for 0'Dowd

Dad-to-be Chris O'Dowd believes narrating new animation series Puffin Rock will give him the chance to road test a new form of "remote parenting".

Chris and his wife, the improbably named Dawn O'Porter, are expecting their first child together.

"It's lovely doing a kids' show that my child will be able to watch when I'm down the pub drinking," O'Dowd joked. "I'm thinking of it as a kind of remote form of parenting."

The RTE Jr programme follows the mishaps of two young pufflings and has been developed by award-winning production company, Cartoon Saloon.

"Puffins have been a guilty pleasure of mine for a long time," O'Dowd explained. "I feel like society has finally caught up with me and is ready to accept my appreciation of puffins."

It's been a good week for Irish film and animation all round with the Irish Film Board celebrating a record year of production at their annual 2015 programme launch.

Director of Once John Carney, grunge goddess Tara Lee and the wonderfully talented Mark O'Halloran all stopped by to take a sneak peek at the 2015 slate.

We were all very excited to hear that Kate Beckinsale will be touching down to film Whit Stillman's period romp Love and Friendship and Jamie Dornan will star in upcoming Congolese drama Siege of Jadotville.

Head of the Irish Film Board, James Hickey, and loveable rogue Bill O'Herlihy, chatted about tax breaks and Star Wars as we slurped coffee and tried to resist the puff pastries on offer.

- KBK