By Mia Mulvaney
I’m sitting outside Metro Café, perched at a corner table like it’s my own little front-row seat at the Gaiety theatre. My coffee is lukewarm, the sunshine is fleeting, and the people-watching? Chef’s kiss. There’s something about a rare burst of Irish sun that makes everyone act like it’s 25 degrees in Barcelona. Jackets off, sunnies on, existential dread postponed until the next drizzle.
And that’s when I see them, a couple walking up the street like they own the cement. He’s got khaki jorts and an attitude that says “I once met Liam Gallagher.” She’s a vision in a yellow top and blue jeans, glowing in that effortless way that makes you wonder if she’s born of chicness and good taste. Heads turn. Conversations pause. People find it hard not to watch them.
She sits across from me, and suddenly, I get it. There’s this gold about her – the kind that makes you believe in auras and energies. Meet Ailbhe O’Regan: jewellery curator, fashion muse, model, and all-round creative darling.
Ailbhe grew up in Tara, the spiritual heart of Ireland. She describes herself as spiritual, though she’s not entirely sure what she believes in just yet. It’s less about labels and more about a quiet curiosity for the world around her. You can see that in her work: it’s reflective, rooted in the earth but reaching for something with a heavenly quality. Tara’s history hums softly through her jewellery, emotional and a little mysterious.
In 2021, she launched Flowerchild Designs, an Instagram page turned art project and expression of pure aesthetic freedom. Not a brand, not a business plan, just a digital playground for her imagination. https://www.instagram.com/flowerchilddesigns_/?hl=en
What began as beaded earrings sold to friends in secondary school, evolved into hand-crafted statement pieces that blend nostalgia, activism, and serious style. Last June, she dropped a Palestine-inspired jewellery collection, using red, green, and white beads to raise awareness and funds for Gaza. Every piece sold out. Every euro went to charity. And yes, she lost followers. “I lost many followers,” she tells me with a shrug that says, so what? In a world obsessed with engagement, Ailbhe chooses integrity and it pays off in authenticity. (https://flowerchild-designs.com/)
Her latest collection? Sold out. She shot the campaign herself on her mum’s old digital camera, recruited friends as models, and somehow managed to make it all look like a glossy editorial. The pieces have since graced music videos, stage lights, and the ears of Irish influencer Keelin Moncrieff, who shared her Flowerchild treasures with her 124k followers.
And if you think she’s just a jewellery designer, think again. Ailbhe recently strutted her way onto the runway at Dublin Independent Fashion Week 2025, closing the show at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in a floor-length gown from the collection Mother May I Cry Again. The dress looked like it was made for her – haunting, romantic, a little mysteriousThe best part? She didn’t even audition.
“I just got a text saying, ‘Are you still tall?’” she laughs. Fate, darling – sometimes it works in peculiar ways.
Between college lectures, coffee shifts, jewellery drops, and now modelling gigs, Ailbhe O’Regan is building a portfolio that’s part passion, part protest, and all personality. She’s the kind of girl who makes you believe that the universe rewards good taste and good hearts equally.
As I pack up my MacBook and watch her disappear into the Dublin crowd, glowing, of course, I can’t help but wonder:Maybe “having it all” just means knowing you already do — preferably while wearing something handmade and fabulous.