A Peachy Umbrella
—(2019)

Garment Design Critical Design

Drawing inspiration from Roddy Doyle's poignant 2018 screenplay "Rosie," this collaborative piece between Graphic Design and Fashion Design students sheds an unflinching light on the harsh realities of Ireland's housing crisis.

In the film, the protagonist Rosie and her family are forced to mask the slow unraveling of their lives as they navigate the challenges of homelessness. She insists "everything is grand" despite their desperate nightly quest for shelter.

This profound dichotomy between forced outward composure and private anguish became the driving concept behind our knitted umbrella—adorned with the ironic phrase "everything is peachy." By rendering the umbrella intentionally useless as a functional object, it transforms into a poignant commentary on the Irish housing crisis, shedding light on the insufficient support and actions taken by the government.

The accompanying tag presents recent statistics, starkly confronting viewers with the housing crisis' staggering proportions. As observers engage with this fashion piece, they are jolted from complacency, forced to reckon with the uncomfortable truths unfolding behind closed doors for too many Irish families.

This collaboration exemplifies how critical design can serve as an urgent call to action. "Everything is Peachy" transforms a functional fashion object into a powerful emblem of irony, creating a visceral, tangible representation of those systematically failed by society. By subverting expectations of an umbrella's utility, the piece embodies the very crisis it critiques—a system failing to provide shelter, a fundamental human need.