bags of ambition for the girl, dreaming of Gucci

She looked longingly at their wares in the windows, as their youth in Dublin. Claudine is now McDonagh Merchandiser for Gucci jewelry. Alison O'Riordan reports As a child, saw Claudine McDonagh longingly in the windows of the goods in department stores Gucci luxury. Although unable to afford the luxury brand beloved screen legends like glamorous Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn who used to wear their handbags and stylish shoes, they would remotely admirable Italian craftsmanship, iconic logos and high quality materials. Claudine began to work for a dream of the most prestigious brands in the world when she was older, cherish, but it was something that had never thought a reality. "I've always wanted to work for an Italian fashion house and was an avid reader of fashion magazines like Vogue and iD influential British lifestyle magazine. My mother and grandmother are very elegant and refined, and I want to particularly pay attention to how they dressed more have, "says the pretty brunette in Clonskeagh, Dublin. Choose to spend her Erasmus year in Italy, where she was able to embrace her love for all things Italian, the closest Claudine thought she would never come to the Gucci brand, for its undisputed symbol for quality. "Italy has always inspired me and I was obsessed with Italian food, fashion, culture and lifestyle, so when I went on Erasmus in Milan as part of my business and the Italian degree, he was indeed very special," said them. After college, Claudine began to carve out a career in business, worked at BNP Paribas in Dublin, but she never abandoned her love of fashion and has a summer internship at Grafton Academy. "I realized, I wanted to work full time and fashion, thought the recession, I, it was the perfect opportunity. I think it was a case of now or never, so I decided to take that opportunity," says the 31 years. She went on Polimoda, International Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing in Florence to study. "I studied Italian in school, I thought it would be nice to return to dive me in Italian society, so I made an intensive six-month master of Italian marketing management of the purchase method in 2009," she said. Florence is the artistic capital of Europe because of its association with architects, painters and sculptors are known, and Claudine had the opportunity to display his creative side on completing her Masters show, when she found work with a designer Pauric Sweeney Donegal, of his studio in the city ​​and based their fancy designs are often found on the arms of young stars such as Agyness Deyn, Alexa Chung and Kate Winslet. "I learned a lot from Pauric, because he would closely work with prestigious Italian tanneries and craftsmen for its classic bags, made with exotic materials and skins from the hills of Tuscany. There was a small company, I am much more hands-on experience and looked after its marketing and product development. I learned to present their new collections in Paris and Milan, "said Claudine. After a year, Claudine international luxury brand Gucci and soon became his jewelry merchant in the world. "Will I never thought I could work for the Gucci Group, the women embrace imagine the world. 70 percent of the jewelry in the world made in Italy, as far as I know, that the Italians are very focused on the aesthetics at all. . "They are a very artistic and creative people who have a natural flair for fashion," she said. Can work with their fine silver jewelry and fashion believes, Gucci jewelry Claudine transform an outfit from ordinary to extraordinary. "Although my title does not translate exactly, I work in product development, presentation of the collections and how to sell jewelry buyers. I am the center of everything. The jewelry is spectacular and complicated, because the mood of fashion, like the jewelry counter, would the more traditional, "said Claudine, who is now based at the Gucci headquarters in Florence, close to other designers such as Cavalli, Prada, Ferragamo, D & G and Hermes. Presenting six collections of jewelry a year and four annual fashion show for ladies and gentlemen, that's what Claudine has always dreamed. "Gucci is so historic. It's about heritage, iconic and crafts The historical reasons for jewelery to be reinterpreted," says Claudine. "They used to have Gucci bags, Christmas gift to employees, but last year was the first year they changed the Gucci 90th Anniversary book. I was burned out," she laughs. Work with Frida Giannini, the Italian fashion designer and now creative director of the Italian fashion house, is all in a day's work for the native of Dublin. "After Tom Ford, who was the Gucci label as sexy and provocative, marched through all the archives Giannini and historical reasons, and new to the old value of the brand," she said, adding: "tThe demanding clients would the bamboo handle on bags that were still used in the 1940s than it is to show a lack of leather and materials after the Second World War. " Despite the description of the men in Italy as "very trendy and avant-garde", they are not to his taste: Claudine found love with the Munster rugby player James Downey, who is based in Cork. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights between Cork and Florence, but they do with romantic getaways, whenever best it could.