Meet the Irish designer illuminating Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun era

Zara Larsson has had the strongest year of her career, making a victorious return to the charts with her latest album Midnight Sun and earning her first-ever Grammy nomination. From viral TikTok dances to a remarkable line-up of fashion moments across her international tour, Larsson is experiencing a long-awaited resurgence, one that many fans have been hoping for since those blissful, millennial days of “Lush Life.”

The mastermind behind Zara’s standout fashion this year is Irish designer Sorcha O’Raghallaigh, an Offaly-born graduate of Central Saint Martins. Over the years, O’Raghallaigh has built an extraordinary archive of fashion moments, from dressing Lady Gaga for her first appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2011, to creating bespoke pieces for the likes of Beyoncé, Kate Moss and Violet Chachki. Having carved out a niche in the world of celebrity custom pieces, Sorcha’s journey has been fuelled by relentless dedication and a whole lot of beads.“I had, like, five years where I was doing Beyoncé, Gaga, I was doing everyone,” she tells me. “But London life was quite hard. I was lucky because I always got good jobs on the side, but I was lecturing down in a university in Kent and then going back and doing all-nighters at my studio to meet deadlines.”

O’Raghallaigh specialises in bespoke, couture-level pieces, recognised by her signature embroidery and beading. “I was lucky enough to intern at [John] Galliano in Paris, and when I was there, I just saw them beading, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love this,” she says. “I almost find it’s like painting with beads.” Her aesthetic then proved the perfect match for Larsson’s latest reinvention, whether it’s that sheer VMA red carpet dress or those intricately beaded skirts that Larsson wears while performing on stage.

The collaboration between the two underscores just how impactful a designer can be in the reinvention of a musician’s career, and how crucial partnership is when incorporating a designer’s work into an album’s vision. “I think with Zara and [her stylist] Caterina Ospina, they just love the same things I love. They love fantasy, they love colour, they love texture, so it’s really been a dream,” O’Raghallaigh adds. “What I loved about Caterina is that she pinpointed the aspects of my work that they were drawn to and really encouraged me to be myself when creating the pieces. Sometimes a stylist will approach you with something super minimal, and I’m just like, ‘that’s not my vibe at all’.”

We caught up with O’Raghallaigh to learn how the partnership with Larsson came to life, delve into her career, and, of course, gush over some of her custom highlights so far.

Hey Sorcha! First of all, could you tell us a little bit about where it all started and your time at CSM?

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh: I applied to CSM, got in, and I never looked back, to be quite honest. I found myself there. I think because I struggled at school, I always thought I was just dumb, but I really loved the environment. For my final year, I had the craziest idea to create these ten-foot dresses, and we suspended them on stilt walkers. It was wild. Everyone was doing minimalism at the time, and it ended up becoming this huge thing that got so much attention. Then Anna Trevelyan, who was styling Gaga at the time, reached out to me, and I accidentally ended up starting a brand straight out of college! I really didn’t know what I was doing, but you just go with it.

I ended up being approached to work as a consultant for this embellishment company in Italy, and embellishment is my thing! I had previously interned at Galliano in Paris, and I was lucky enough to intern there for a while. When I went to Italy to work there, I learned how to really work with artisans. I did that for a while, and La Perla was in the same place in Italy, and they ended up approaching me to become head of embroidery.

It was about developing pieces that still made sense in the world of Midnight Sun, but also acknowledging that there’s far more technicality involved working with a performer

We’ll discuss the incredible work that followed in your early career a little later, but first I’d love to talk about your most recent collaborations with Zara Larsson. Could you tell us how that came about?

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh: I’d never actually worked with Caterina before, but she reached out to me in August and was like, ‘Hey, do you want to do something for Zara?’ And I was like ‘Cool, yeah?’ I didn’t really overthink it. I hear from stylists a lot, and sometimes something comes of it, sometimes nothing comes from it. But I think from the get-go me and Caterina just worked. I’ve only been working with her for about three months now, and it feels like it’s been ten years.

She was like, ‘do you want to do something iconic for the VMAs?’, so I did some sketches. There was one other option they were considering, but I think it ended up being the perfect choice. I’ve done stuff for the VMAs before. My first ever job for Gaga was actually the VMAs, I made her a dress straight out of college. I was like, ‘oh my god, this is it! I’m sorted!’ We made it, [but] she probably had ten other options. So yeah, I try not to get too excited anymore. I’ve learned to just be like, if it happens, amazing. If it doesn’t happen, it’s still great.

Following the VMAs, you’ve become the designer behind many of Zara’s tour looks, which the internet has been obsessing over lately. It must be so exciting to see. What does the process of creating designs specifically for performance involve?

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh: The thing that stood out with the VMA’s dress was the type of flowers they loved, so we developed a different variation of those that could withstand those performances. We did a lot of heat-fixing & hand-sewing. And obviously, Zara is an incredible dancer, so it really had to be strong enough to withstand everything. So it was about developing pieces that still made sense in the world of Midnight Sun, but also acknowledging that there’s far more technicality involved working with a performer.

Fashion is such a key part of an album’s overall aesthetic now. I’d love to hear about those first collaborative conversations. Did you get an early visual sense of the world of Midnight Sun?

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh: The way it works is she’ll give me a moodboard and things to sketch from. What I love about Caterina is that she never shows me a million images of other people’s work. She’ll say, ‘this is what I love about your work, and these are the kinds of colours and themes we like.’ Sometimes people approach you and just want you to make something that someone else has already made.

It’s not even from an ego perspective, I just know I can do a better job if someone lets me be myself a bit, you know? But it’s very collaborative, too. She sort of feeds me the Midnight Sun world, and I put my circus spin on that world. I’m so happy and grateful. Hopefully, it keeps going. We’ve worked on a few other things that haven’t come out yet, so that’s really exciting as well!”

The market is oversaturated, but if you know what your one thing is and get really, really good at it... people are naturally going to come to you looking for it

You have such an incredible archive of collaborations with some of the biggest names in fashion and music. Beyond Gaga, who helped launch your career, was there a moment or collaboration that made you stop and think, ‘woah, this is insane’?

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh: I’m grateful for loads of things. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to have a creative career. But, I mean, for me, the Kate Moss thing… when she wore that cape in LOVE magazine in 2012, photographed by Tim Walker. Kate Moss! And Tim Walker, who’s one of my all-time favourites, styled by Katie Grand. And there were no other small designers in that shoot – it was all couture brands. That came at a time when I was really struggling with my brand. I was on the brink of giving up, and sometimes you feel crazy, and you think, ‘why am I doing this?’ But you can’t help it – it’s part of you. And so when that moment happened, it was truly huge. An amazing moment.

And lastly, for aspiring designers interested in building a brand and replicating a career similar to yours, what advice would you give them?

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh:  Definitely be true to yourself. Things go wrong – that’s life! But as cheesy as it sounds, ask yourself, ‘what can I learn from this?’ Always work hard, because there’s going to be a million people that will want to do it so you’ve got to work hard and be polite. Also, value your work and try not to get taken advantage of. The market is oversaturated, but if you know what your one thing is and get really, really good at it, let that be your niche. If you’ve perfected that one thing, people are naturally going to come to you looking for it.