American-Irish designer Paul Costelloe has died at the age of 80. A mainstay of London Fashion Week for four decades, he worked for Princess Diana for over ten years, contributing to the popular royal’s unique style with his romantic and colorful outfits.
His name was much less famous than that of Lady Di… And unlike the princess with the tragic fate, who died at the age of just 36, the Irish-American designer Paul Costelloe passed away in London at the age of 80 in more peaceful circumstances on November 21, surrounded by his wife and seven children. His family announced the news, the epilogue to a “brief illness,” with its members saying they were “deeply saddened.”
Paul Costelloe and Princess Diana knew and appreciated each other for nearly fifteen years. The former was the latter’s personal stylist from 1983 to 1997, when his famous client passed away.
An influencer ahead of her time
The designer contributed to the unique style that was so admired and imitated by the hugely popular Princess, an influencer ahead of her time.
Paul Costelloe’s romantic and feminine outfits, which were fairly classic but with a modern twist, featured luxurious fabrics (such as tweed, cashmere, and satin) and colors that perfectly matched Lady Di’s preppy yet daring nature.
The designer recently told Irish television channel RTE that Lady Di “was very human,” that she “didn’t behave like a princess” and that “she made very good tea and scones.”
Born in 1945 in Dublin, Ireland, Paul Costelloe was a leading figure in British fashion until the end of his life. Last September, the octogenarian presented his final spring-summer collection, inspired by the 1960s, at London Fashion Week, where he had made his debut 41 years earlier.
A cosmopolitan career
Born into a predestined family (his father ran a raincoat factory), Paul Costelloe began his studies in Dublin at the Grafton Academy of Fashion Design, before continuing in Paris at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
After starting his career in the French capital as an assistant to designer Jacques Esterel, he went on to have a very cosmopolitan career, first in Milan, working for Marks & Spencer, which wanted to establish itself in the Italian market, and then for the luxury department store La Rinascente. He then moved to the United States, where his mother was from, and collaborated with New York designer Anne Fogarty, among others.
His role with Lady Di was the pinnacle of his career.
A sense of reality
But this glorious collaboration did not make him lose his sense of reality. Paul Costelloe Collections, his own fashion house created in 1979 in London, continued to expand its lifestyle scope, ranging from women’s, men’s, and children’s fashion to homewares and accessories (jewelry, eyewear, etc.).
His company, to which he remained committed until the end, also designed, through its corporate wear department, the uniforms for British Airways and the Irish Olympic team, among others. The family business did not disappear with Paul Costelloe: his son William took over as creative director.
Ireland did not wait for the designer’s death to celebrate him. In 2010, he was selected along with five other contemporary Irish fashion designers (Louise Kennedy, Lainey Keogh, John Rocha, Philip Treacy, and Orla Kiely) to appear on a series of postage stamps. In 2024, he told Vogue magazine that he wanted to retire, “rent an old car, travel around France and paint.” Life decided otherwise. And the designer will travel symbolically through his brand and… on the front of letters and postcards!
Read also > [Luxus Magazine] More than 20 years on, the Lady Diana craze continues unabated
Featured photo: © Bob Costelloe
