Tech Powered Luxury
Lia Cowan: A Fashion Brand Rooted in Romance and Ballet, as worn by Derry Girls' Nicola Coughlan
Published: 18 March 2025 at 10:11 Europe/London
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Welcome to Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury, brought to you with Azure Communications!
This week, we’re diving into the world of fashion, sculpture, and bespoke bridalwear with Irish designer Lia Cowan. Known for her statement-making designs, worn by none other than Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan, Lia’s journey from sculpture student to art teacher to fashion designer is incredible.
Lia’s fashion journey took an unconventional path - she studied sculpture at NCAD, dreamed of becoming a teacher, and even spent three years teaching art in secondary school before realising something was missing. 👗
A nudge from her fiancé, Max, who gifted her a sewing machine, set her on a new path. From making scrunchies to launching her namesake brand, Lia Cowan, she’s now a rising star in the fashion industry, moving into the bridal space with a bespoke approach. 👰🏽♀️
Her designs, often sculptural and performative, draw inspiration from movement, ballet, and theatrical costume. With a slow fashion model, she creates custom, one-of-a-kind pieces that aim to continue pushing the boundaries of occasionwear. 💫
For quite some time now, Azure has been our go-to provider for all things print and marketing. If you attended our Live from Paris Fashion Week show in September last year, you would have seen our event magazines featuring all of the designers and creatives who played a part in the event and our beautiful invites - all created by Azure Communications - they know how to elevate events and marketing with a luxury and personalised touch.
If you’re looking for top-tier branded collateral, print services, or marketing support, look no further because Azure Communications can take care of all of it.
You can visit them at www.azurecomm.ie or follow them on Instagram at @AzureCommunications.
ABOUT
Season 6 of Tech Powered Luxury is brought to you by luxury and tech entrepreneur Ashley McDonnell. With 10 years of experience working at the crossroads of luxury and technology, Ashley carved out a career across Paris, Dublin and Geneva, working at LVMH, Dior, Google and luxury group PUIG. The podcast is also taught as a module at leading business and design schools around the world, with the goal to share insightful and actionable stories and experience from industry leaders.
NEWSLETTER & COMMUNITY REWARDS
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THE TECH POWERED LUXURY TEAM
Producer & Host: Ashley McDonnell
Videography: Ben O’Neill
Photography: Anastasiia Redko, Anastasiia Lopushynska and Madeline Gillespie
Production Assistants: Abigail Herbert, Gemma Brennan, Tessa Haughton Lynch, Grace Slattery and Klaudia Skierska
Socials and Newsletter: Laoise O’Connell
Styling: Johanna Dooley
Styling Assistants: Cian Crowe and Alison Murphy
Public Relations: Align Agency
Content Creation: Kinsman & Co
