On Wednesday evening (August 19th), I attended the first Goss Meets LIVE! monthly event, held in the downstairs area of Buck Whaley’s Townhouse, Leeson Street. The evening promised an evening of nibbles, cocktails, Häagen Dazs ice cream and chats as Goss.ie editor Ali Ryan was joined by three of Ireland’s most lovely ladies for a Q&A, filmed for the Goss TV live interviews. The talks covered women in today’s society in terms of careers, fashion, competition and gave a truly inspiring insight into getting to know the industry behind each of the ladies in question. For this first event, Ali was joined by three amazing #GIRLBOSS idols Lisa Fitzpatrick, Marissa Carter of Cocoa Brown and Rosanna Davison. It was an extremely enjoyable evening of great advice and passion, seeing that each of the three lovely ladies have relatable stories, jobs and aspirations. And then there was the fashion itself, which was just on-point! I learned so much; from never giving up and ignoring the haters, to dressing to your size and learning to listen to your body in terms of food & nutrition. At the end of the evening we also received lovely goodie bags with some serious goodies, thank you Goss! Take a look below at the photos from the event, what I learned and quotes by each of the ladies that I am definitely going to aspire to.
Lisa Fitzpatrick
With a tomboy and sports background, Lisa Fitzpatrick started out owning not one but two stores before venturing into fashion styling. She met Louis Walsh through her days of working & judging Miss Ireland, and had longed to work on The X Factor, and with a little help from her friend Louis – she got the job! “Louis is so good to everybody, he brings the whole of Ireland with him.”
Before bagging her Ireland: AM slot, she’d rang Debbie O’Donnell many a time with a hook of what she could bring to the table. Her words of wisdom when you want a position is to “keep annoying them, so they remember you!” She now works as a regular stylist & fashion tips presenter for Ireland: AM, Xposé and also for UTV This Morning.
She’d styled Rosanna Davison for Miss World 2003, which as we all know was a huge success for the Irish that year when Rosanna took the crown home to the Emerald Isle. Lisa says that she just loves fashion, from the styling and creating different looks to working with different brands. Lisa has attended the VIP Style Awards for numerous years, and was crowned the winner for Look of the Year 2015! Having personally experienced different sizes (including her pregnancy and weight loss, she knew it was the right time to make a move and did so with Diet SOS, her debut book. Although Lisa went on to write a second book, Enjoying Style & Fashion, Lisa revealed that she’s done with writing for now. For the occasion, Lisa wore a H&M top, culottes from COS and platform shoes by Stella McCartney.
Lisa also gave us sound advice on friendships, saying that we really should just call our friends and not just text them, because texts can be read 5 different ways. “Try not to have enemies and if you do, address it. If you’ve nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all.”
She revealed that along with her fashion workshops, which are held ten times annually around the country, Lisa has ideas to plan & create a makeup line with Brown Sugar!
The next Lisa Fitzpatrick’s Fashion Fix workshop takes place September 19th 2015 at The Spencer Hotel. Buy your tickets here. // Purchase ‘Diet SOS’ and ‘Enjoying Style & Fashion’ here
“It wasn’t easy to lose weight but I keep to my 5 days of good eating and then the weekends are for over indulgence – because it works for me. I love being bold, I love wine, I love throwing hands up in the like I don’t care – I love life!” – Lisa Fitzpatrick
Marissa Carter
Next up was businesswoman Marissa Carter. Having worked at Assets Modelling Agency in the commercial section, she had an interest for TV & acting, and at age 16, she’d auditioned for an ad for VHI Health Insurance. Having seen a sneak peek at Glenda Gilson’s audition right before hers, Marissa copied the style and went on to land the job herself!
Though she didn’t have the steadiest of luck, Marissa found herself working at Galligan Beauty College, Dublin as a receptionist but was extremely interested in the courses the college ran. So one day at the start of term, she spoke to the teacher, “I can’t afford the course, but can I join anyway?” and in she went and did the course! “I wanted to be the best in the class! To be the best beauty therapist I could be.” And this stemmed into Carter Beauty, Marissa’s first business and beauty salon in 2006, inspired by Galligan, that boasted to have the best fake tan application in town. “We knew how to give you the most amazing spray tan you could get!”
After pitching her ideas to the boss at TV3, she came into the studio the next day and was featured on Ireland: AM. Marissa explained the difference between pushiness and not giving up. That you’ve got to be persistent but have the fresh ideas the bosses are looking for. In 2012, we saw Marissa launch Cocoa Brown, which as we all now know is one of the biggest leading tan brands in the country, but is also marking its name across the world. The tan brand has most recently been featured on Teen Vogue and E! News, with many celebrities taking to the tan bottles for their bronzing fix. For the Oscars 2014, Marissa and her Cocoa Brown team jetted over to Hollywood to prep actresses and celebrities before they hit the red carpet at the Luxury Suite in the Beverly Hilton Hotel! Could the brand get any more glamorous? Cocoa Brown have released news of their brand new product, the Golden Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil. Finally a Cocoa Brown product I personally cannot wait to use!
Cocoa Brown products are available at Penneys, Boots, Dunnes Stores and more, click to check stockists // Visit Carter Beauty, 40 Main St, Blackrock, Co. Dublin or online here
“Who you know and the contacts you make are so important. You can’t truly make a connection unless you meet them. Self-belief is the strongest factor to success. Try to be the best version of yourself, and then people will really recognize you.” – Marissa Carter
Rosanna Davison
Rosanna Davison is one of my favourite Irish leading ladies, and her Q&A at this Goss Meets LIVE! event really proved why. Having been picked out randomly at age 19 at the Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre to enter the Miss Nemo Dun Laoghaire peagant, Rosanna quickly went on to win Miss Ireland & the ultimate crown as Miss World 2003. She gave us such an insight into what really happens at Miss World and the reality of it all; from other contestants making it clear they weren’t at the peagant to make friends, to how strict supervision was, (the girls weren’t to leave their hotel rooms unsupervised!). But she did tell us about the fabulous fashion, and how, with the help of Lisa Fitzpatrick, Rosanna was dressed & styled to the nines with three outfits for every day, for the whole month of Miss World. That’s about 90 outfits for just one month! But then there was the hair, makeup, jewels, bikinis and the heels. And let’s face it – Rosanna absolutely killed every look. For the Goss event, she wore a stunning polka cut out midi dress with a full skirt finish from Cari’s Closet, which you can buy here.
As many of us know, Rosanna is big into her nutrition & food, having first studied Sociology & Art History at UCD Dublin and now is a qualified nutritional therapist, finishing a three-year part-time college course in biomedicine and nutrition. She then began working with private clients, focusing on eating, food & supplement plans and giving nutritional advice. “I recommend natural medicine and healing from the inside. Nutrition & fitness, and knowing what’s right for you are important.” With the success of her website, Rosanna Davison Nutrition, she told us all about her upcoming & debut book, ‘Eat Yourself Beautiful’, which will be released on August 28th. She wrote the book between September and December 2014, and admits that her first draft had about 140,000 words! The book will include approximately 100 recipes and will be full of tips on how to make the best for your body. Rosanna talked about how she changed her life and diet, because she wasn’t feeling well so she’d tried the Raw Vegan diet. “But I’m not doing Raw Vegan anymore. I am human, and I just know what works for my body. I still love to party and have a glass of vino, but nutrition, health & fitness are important too. Your diet is the best beauty secret you possess.”
Rosanna also spoke about her infamous Playboy Germany nude photoshoot. She said that before she agreed to do the three-day shoot down in Mauritius, she had a full-control demand to be written into the contract. “I’ll only do it if I have full control over everything. Location, styling, choice of photos and editorial of interview. I never doubted or regretted it.” Personally, I think her photos came out absolutely beautiful and natural, and I’m in awe of her confidence to have done the shoot.
Finally, Rosanna spoke about friendships and how to get yourself out there – the right way. “Once you’ve made a profile for yourself and have made contacts, get to know the right people who will help build you up. Learn to know difference between social media and socializing with friends, put the phone down!” She also spoke about how she is a huge supporter of women, and that she loves to focus on workshops, on health & fitness, food demos, as well as fashion & beauty. She recommends to use vision or mood boards weekly and think about what you want to achieve for the next week.
Visit Rosanna Davison Nutrition here // Pre-order ‘Eat Yourself Beautiful’ at Easons here or on Amazon here
“Your diet is the best beauty secret you possess. Putting in the extra hours and the extra effort, beyond what others are doing, that is intelligent effort that pays off.” – Rosanna Davison
A huge thank you to the Goss.ie team for the wonderful event, to Lisa Fitzpatrick, Marissa Carter & Rosanna Davison for their time and talks, and to the staff at Buck Whaley’s!
Photos © Nirina Plunkett, Jerry McCarthy
Killer Fashion 