Opera patron Sheena Mc Carthy shares her style advice on what to wear to the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival commencing …
Photography Jason Woodard
As a loyal patron over a decade (her husband Tommy McCarthy is on the advisory board), Sheena McCarthy, founder of Sheena’s Boutique in Cork, says, fashionwise, “Anything goes. You see opera coats and elegant prints, tweed jackets and furtrimmed wraps, long dresses and trainers.” Last year’s gala night endured pelting rain, so she swapped her fabulous Sara Roka ankle-length taffeta dress for a black gabardine coat and high-waisted palazzos. “It’s nice to dress up, to wear something glamorous, even if it’s just a beautiful silk wrap, a big pearl choker and statement earrings.” Lismore’s delightful terraced gardens mandate sensible footwear. Sheena wears a nude or gold wedge: “Heels just don’t work on gravel paths.”
Sheena wears a pale pink blazer, €230, with sweetheart bustier, €65, and double pearl choker necklace, €65; all by Access Fashion; Corona Circle Swarovski crystal and pearl earrings, €50; all from Sheena’s boutique.
Sheena wears a multi-coloured Tosca dress by Sara Roka, €750; feathered belt, €110; Caroline Svedbom jewellery; a citrine Figaro bag from Tissa Fontaneda, €1,010; all from Sheena’s Boutique, 24 Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork. Pashmina and sandals, Sheena’s own.
She is the queen of no makeup makeup and even manages to make a smokey eye look subtle. When everyone else was going for heavy contour and laminated eyebrows, she continued to promote enhancing your natural features with simple tricks and smart product placement. If you have seen any of her videos, you will notice how little product she actually uses. Even Victoria Beckham commented how surprised she was when she went to remove her makeup after a shoot with Lisa on how little product was applied.