Clare and Kash O’Hara – Ohara Designs – Stand 4544
Clare O’Hara studied fashion design at Sydney’s KvB Bond University and soon impressed as a sharp talent. Her sister Kash earned a BA in commerce from Sydney University and ended up working for Microsoft. The O’Hara girls were smart, successful and dissatisfied.
“Kash was driven up the wall by the corporate world,” recalls Clare. But the sisters understood the importance of first impressions in that world, so in 2007 they launched their Successorise range of luxury accessories – from ties and cufflinks to leather bags and shoes - for the corporate man and woman.
It was the beginning of Ohara Designs and made quite a splash. Then the Sydney label took a fresh tack. “Originally, our plan was to sell only online, but we realised our real passion was fashion,” says Clare. The result: Ohara Designs’ first women’s resort wear collection, Travel The World By Sea, which will be presented at Fashion Exposed. It’s a delight: a deftly coordinated range in silk and cotton solids and prints that offers a great wardrobe from sexy jumpsuit, shorts and skinny jeans, to fetching dresses and a tailored jacket – all immaculately styled and inspired by the sisters’ travels.
The collection’s nautical theme, like the label’s logo, is also a tribute to Sydney Harbour. As youngsters, Clare and Kash – now 26 and 28 - often paddled their kayaks on the harbour. Before that, their favourite pastime was playing dress-up in their mother’s clothes – the perfect escape from five boisterous older brothers.