![\"Designer](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/babd53e8-9135-44ef-8e4e-8af0c712d1e5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nWorn by everyone from Rihanna to Madonna, Dublin-based glove designer Paula Rowan shares how her creative vision became a reality\n<\/p>\n
Glove designer Paula Rowan made her mission clear from the start: to have her name be synonymous with luxury leather gloves. The designer has been in business in Dublin\u2019s Westbury Mall for 20 years and has had countless celebrities don her designs, such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Madonna\u2026 the list really does go on.<\/p>\n
Rowan\u2019s shown the importance of having a clear goal and more importantly, not stopping until you achieve it. \u201cWhen someone I really admire wears my clothes, it\u2019s still a pinch-me moment,\u201d she says. \u201cI still have that excitement. All of these moments are wonderful and mark turning points in my career. So yes, while it is very exciting, it\u2019s important to stay grounded. There\u2019s still work to be done in the background.<\/p>\n
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Designer Paula Rowan in her shop in Dublin\u2019s Westbury Mall<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you go into any creative business, whether it be an actor, sculptor, painter or designer, if you\u2019re only going into it for money, you\u2019re heading for disaster. You have to start from a place of passion and with that natural energy, the rest will follow. Also, you need a good product, which I had. I have a strong ethos behind my brand, I\u2019m very true to what I set out to do from the beginning, I\u2019ve stuck to that and I think in life when you stick with anything, it\u2019s only going to go in one direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having had so much success in her field, I ask Rowan what are the first steps those looking to start a fashion business should take. \u201cYou need to write a business plan. If you have an idea you\u2019re toying with, put it down on paper and see what it looks like. I actually didn\u2019t have a business plan, but looking back now if I had more structure, maybe I\u2019d be in a different place today.\u201d<\/p>\n
She may not have had a business plan, but she definitely knew what she was after. \u201cI wanted the name Paula Rowan to be synonymous with luxury leather gloves. I wanted to have everything handmade in Italy at a high standard. I found the right factories and good people to work with, the right leather \u2013 but I wasn\u2019t entirely sure how I was going to reach my end goal, because I didn\u2019t have a business plan. To anyone starting off, have a clear vision of where you want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the business is off the ground, the grind doesn\u2019t stop there, Rowan cautions. \u201cA business is like a relationship, you go through ups and downs, those difficult stages where you have to work things out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness isn\u2019t plain sailing and it\u2019s not for the faint-hearted. You have to commit. And, again, like a relationship, when things go pear-shaped, you make a decision to either continue with the relationship and work through those problems, or are you going to walk away? You can\u2019t be afraid of the problems either, things go wrong, that\u2019s how you learn. You just don\u2019t want to repeat the same mistakes.\u201d <\/p>\n
See paularowan.com<\/p>\n
![\"Ani](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/mganivintage300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ani Vintage Golden Hour bag charm, \u20ac50, anivintage.com<\/p>\n
What your Ani Vintage bag charm says about you… <\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been accused of hoarding many times, but you insist you\u2019re merely a collector of special memories. While your tastes run to the whimsical, you\u2019re far too chic to attach a Labubu or generic keychain on your bag. You admire beauty and longevity above trends, which is why the individuality of these charms from Dublin-based Ani Vintage appeal. You will never be the woman who responds: \u201cOh, I just picked it up in Zara!\u201d when asked about your clothing. Each piece has to have a story as charming as you are. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Worn by everyone from Rihanna to Madonna, Dublin-based glove designer Paula Rowan shares how her creative vision became…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,26293,4746,7250,76326,16378],"class_list":{"0":"post-299296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-lady-gaga","13":"tag-life-magazine","14":"tag-madonna","15":"tag-orla-dempsey","16":"tag-rihanna"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115944000654610394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}