IGATHER my declaring last week that "shearling is so last year" caused a few Kompressors to be rear-ended in the Carrickmines and Jack's Hole locales.

Let me calm your palpitating hearts. That was just fashion hyperbole. Shearlings, like pashminas, are now considered an essential element, a 'must have' like the little black dress, in every luxury-minded women's wardrobes. Your thousands are still wisely invested, especially when you have designers such as Róisín Gartland around who keep reminding us why we want what we want.

"I'm not into sexiness! The clothes, by the nature of the fabric, I suppose, are," Róisín told me by way of explanation as to why she does what she does. "I'm about making beautiful pieces that people can love and admire beyond a season. I'm about life."

Róisín Gartland has been dubbed 'the leather woman', which as she told me causes men when introduced, to look at her in a funny (kinda hopeful?) way. Her career is founded on working with animal skins, not fur, though her father was a furrier and she was inspired to work in the industry, from watching him. Róisín works with leather, suede and shearling, skins that are luxury fabrics.

Róisín Gartland has been designing for 16 years, so with all her knowledge you would think her work would be pretty fancy, yet this season, her collection is as simple as it gets. Nor does it get any sexier.

"We just went with the flow of the skin. You can't fight nature," Róisín told me as she showed me how the pieces work this season.

Basically Róisín has left the skins in their uncut state and, with a gentle bit of unobtrusive modelling, created garments that have a raw edge. The long, wrap skirts in leather, suede or very fine shearling, can double up into capes, or be worn for real drama - draped over one shoulder like a Celtic warrior.

But though the edges may be raw, the fabric and finish is anything but. Suede wraps are satin-backed, leather has been dyed, buffed and polished. An antique finish is a feature of her cream shearling coats and gilets.

Elements that I loved in the collection were her mocha-coloured, antique, beaded, suede, backless, halter-neck tops and matching wide band hipster trousers. Also her creamy Merino shearling, duffle coats with the patch pockets and hood made of contrasting Toscana long-haired, lambskin. Her raw-edged mini skirts look the absolute biz with her pull-on, leather leggings.

"I've been working with Paula Hughes, the stylist, and these were one of the ideas we came up with together," Róisín told me.

Fashionistas who know their international fashion, will fall upon the leather leggings which are like long spats. You pull them on like a pair of stockings which sit at the tops of your thighs. They look unbelievably kick ass and sexy with the mini skirt and great heels. There are also great arm pieces too.

"There is no formula I call on," Róisín explained to me about her approach to a collection. "Finding a starting point and getting going is the most difficult thing. And then it's a journey and you don't know where it will end."

Which I would say is Róisín's approach to life. Though she had established her name, in her mid-twenties, Róisín decided to go to college as a mature student, studying sculpture at Dun Laoghaire College of Art. It took her 10 years to do her degree and it was hard fulfilling the demands of career, life and hearts desire, but she loved the course and sculpting is now an essential part of her life and given her new creative drive for her career. She hopes to hold an exhibition early next year.

"It's amazing what you can do if you organise. Nothing would get done normally and I'd work until 10 o'clock at night. But once you know you've got to be out of here by a certain time, you get what you need done!" she told me laughing self-deprecatingly.

Looking around the room, the diversity of design - from red suede and leather kimono-style tops and jackets, to a classic black leather trench coat, to a pair of the leggings with zips - I asked Róisín who her clients were.

"Generally it's people who can't find what they need in shops. Or they have a very specific requirement," She told me. "Men like the leather pieces but women prefer suede for the luxury."

Emma Cosgrove of Cobou in Ballina has often told me that Róisín's clothes are amongst her best-sellers, and considering the fabrics, we are not talking cheap best-sellers either. Though if you were to compare the price of Róisín's shearling garments to other international designer's shearlings, I guarantee you will notice their prices are at least double Róisín's.

"The fashion business is a very demanding and harsh mistress, and if you can't pull a rabbit out of a hat each season you could die. It's a tremendous pressure. A piece of art isn't subjected to the same level of examination and yet the same effort goes into it!

"But, I'm still here!"

It was a real pleasure to listen to Róisín talk, to learn and appreciate the differences in fabric, the individual sheep's characteristics. That Merino shearling is so luxurious, so velvety. That Icelandic sheepskin is thinner, due to it needing two lengths of hair, one short, one long, to cope with the climate there. Toscana is the Italian sheep whose coat is so much a favourite of people who love long-haired sheepskin.

The colour palate of Róisín's collection for Autumn/Winter 2003 is small but definite - vanilla, chocolate, tan, black and red.

"Red was really strong for me this season. I think it's the vibrant life force that is calling to me at the moment."

There is always a dichotomy in good fashion designers work; Róisín has a love of nature and also technology. It's the learning, the science, the nature and spiritual evolution of her work that keeps her inspired.

"I wouldn't be able to keep it up if I had to be commercial all the time. This year I played with the collection - a lot!"

Calling to the wearer, come play in a field of dreams. Yours, mine, anyone's, just dream.

- Constance Harris