The Irish designer Oran Aurelio is far from famous, even though his designs have been seen by millions.
The self-taught talent has been creating custom pieces for global performers like CMAT and Chappell Roan without much fanfare. With a ready-to-wear collection in the works and a just-opened studio in Dublin, his profile may be on the rise.
While studying at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, or IADT, five years ago, Aurelio set out to study stage and production design, but instead shifted his focus to costume design. Inspired by tastemakers like Gloria Guinness and Babe Paley whose élan “lingers like ghosts,” Aurelio has been steadily gaining commissions to do custom designs for CMAT, whose given name is Ciara Mary Alice Thompson, Roan and other leading performers. Being based away from the fashion hubs of Paris, New York, London and Milan, Aurelio finds inspiration in everything including trips, classic films and Instagram.
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During an interview Friday, Aurelio said he started out working with drag performers and other performers, and connected with CMAT through Instagram, as he has with many clients. Before the Irish-born singer released her third album “Euro-Country,” she approached Aurelio about establishing the aesthetic that she had in mind. Toulouse-Lautrec, the 1960 space race, Marie Antoinette, Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando” and the 2012 revival of neons are references that she has shared with the designer. He said, “She’s truly one of the most intellectual and artistic beings that I have ever encountered.”
As for CMAT’s recent post about being body shamed, Aurelio said, “We’re in these saddling political times with people taking their anger out. There’s so much discourse about bodies and what somebody looks like. With fashion, we’re back to discussing the bodies beneath the clothes and not the clothes.”
Making the point that lipstick sales, hemline lengths and men’s haircuts are used as economic indicators in unsettling times, Aurelio said, “Politics reflect fashion and beauty standards. For some reason, there’s intense focus on people’s looks. The looksmaxing thing is insanity to me. I’m watching these videos and I don’t get this content. I’m 23 — I should be this demographic.”
His designs for CMAT made other performers like Roan take notice of him and reach out through Instagram. His first style for Roan was a John Waters’ “Pink Flamingos”-inspired dress that was worn at 2024 Kentuckiana Pride and went viral. Aurelio said the over-the-top creation resonated with many people at a time when drag performances were under fire. “For that to wind up on the world stage is still incomprehensible to me,” he said. “I made it in my bedroom in Dublin with my mother as my fit model.”
Aurelio still lives in his family’s home in Ireland‘s capital. “I love my family. With family, you can always get their true opinion. They’re not trying to impress you or big-up you,” he said. “I will do something and my sisters will say, ‘Oh Oran, that’s not it.’ I appreciate that feedback and readjust things.”
The technicolor Old Hollywood era and the ultra-chicness of Paris resonate with the designer, who watches lots of old films, including almost weekly screenings of “Funny Girl.” Aurelio said, “I love Barbra Streisand. She’s my end-all and be-all for fashion and glamour and costumes. She’s just the most beautiful woman who has ever graced this earth.”
Last fall Aurelio debuted a demi-couture collection that he sold directly to clients and in the Dublin boutique Om Diva. Working on his first ready-to-wear collection is “another kettle of fish, which I am really enjoying.” The self-taught designer said, “I used to always say to myself that I want to quote-unquote get out of Dublin and then I realized how much I love it.”
Aside from his fondness for local audiences and clients, the designer said he wants to support Irish models, stylists, makeup artists and hairstylists. “As an island, we are quite small but we are all really good at storytelling,” Aureilo said. “I will give Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton photos to hair and makeup artists for reference and they will come up with these wild concepts, even if they don’t know the references. There is a shorthand that I really appreciate.”
Aurelio now has a studio above Om Diva, thanks to owner Ruth Ni Loinsigh. And hIs former professor Peter O’Brien, who previously worked at Chloé and Rochas, is his biggest supporter. He and O’Brien bonded after the latter’s lecture about the 1936 film version of “Romeo and Juliet” starring Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer, which led to a conversation about their shared interest in musical theater and Stephen Sondheim. Aurelio said, “Without these people in my life guiding me, I don’t know where I would be.”