About — SEST | Abby O'Connell, Irish Fashion Designer

The Name Behind the Work

SEST is not an acronym — it is a cipher. S represents 6, E represents 8, S represents 7, T represents 2. Together, they form 6872. 1968 is the year Abby's father, Richard 'Dick' O'Connell, was born. 1972 is the year her mother was born. The brand name carries them both. Every collection, every stitch, every silhouette is a tribute to the people who made her.

SEST was founded during Abby's time studying BA (Hons) in Fashion Design at Griffith College Dublin — a programme she credits with shaping not only her technical craft, but her identity as a designer. Since graduating in 2024, she has become one of Ireland's most compelling emerging voices in fashion, consistently placing emotion at the centre of her practice.

"We all have a story to tell." That is the ethos. Every garment is a narrative — of grief, of longing, of the people we carry with us. Abby does not design clothes. She designs testimony.

Abby O'Connell

Born and raised in Kilkenny, Abby O'Connell has been turning heads on the Irish fashion scene since her graduation collection, 1968, stunned critics and peers at Griffith College in 2024. The collection — a love letter to her late father who died in a plane crash — was made entirely in dark denim and black leather, incorporating seatbelts and a poem written by her sister as structural and emotional elements.

Her second collection, I Mo Chroí ("In My Heart"), shifted focus to the shared Irish experience of diaspora — the particular grief of watching the people you love leave. A sculptural piece from this collection was worn by stylist Fiona Fagan at the VIP Style Awards in 2025, where it prompted immediate, wide-ranging attention. Fagan described the reaction as "staggering."

Her latest work, RESIDUE AW26, continues her unflinching investigation into what endures — materially and emotionally — after loss, transition, and change.

Abby's approach does not follow trends. It tells stories. Fashion, for her, is not decoration — it is language.

The Practice

Storytelling

Every SEST piece begins with a story — personal, political, or emotional. The garment is the medium. The wearer becomes the narrator. Abby's design process starts not with a mood board, but with a feeling she needs to externalise.

Material & Memory

Dark denim. Black leather. Seatbelts repurposed as structural detail. Abby chooses materials for what they carry — durability, toughness, the refusal to dissolve. Vegan leather and reclaimed trims ensure her practice remains as ethically considered as it is emotionally charged.

Authenticity

Abby has been told her work is "too personal." She considers this a compliment. SEST exists precisely because fashion can hold the weight of real human experience — grief, love, displacement — without softening it into something more palatable.

1968 collection by SEST — Abby O'Connell

Dark by Design

Black is not absence at SEST — it is presence. It is the colour of durability, of depth, of the things that last. When Abby first conceived the 1968 collection, she envisioned a light-to-dark journey. She chose darkness entirely. It felt more honest.

The SEST aesthetic is bold and sculptural, rooted in punk's refusal and elevated by the precision of couture technique. Metal hardware. Unexpected textile combinations. Silhouettes that demand to be noticed. Each design is made to start a conversation — or, in Abby's words, to "vocalise all her emotions."

As seen in the pages of IMAGE Magazine, VIP Style, The Kilkenny People, and The Irish Sun — SEST is a label to watch.