Interview by Ilana Schweber

FASHION DESIGNER JACQUELINE Quinn is a woman who wears many hats--to coin a phrase. Aside from launching her private label, Quinn New York, she also works with buyers in the corporate world to design private label collections for major department stores and she designs one-of-a-kind items for musicians or whoever else hires her. Quinn describes her style as "ragbag" depending on the person or company she is designing for.

Quinn was born and raised in Dublin and she studied at the Grafton Academy. She was a consultant designer for a British manufacturer who sold her designs to many English retailers. During that time she commuted to London from her home in Dublin. Initially, she moved to NewYork in 1995 because of her husband's career. "He's a forensic pathologist," she says, "and this is where the grisly murders occur" The move didn't hurt her career either-New York has a booming garment district where she had always wanted to work---but considers it more cutthroat than Europe. In order to survive in it here she says: "You need artistic talent and business acumen, to understand how the business works. It can be bitchy, pulling knives out every night at six. Oh, and you need a sense of humor."

With her corporate gig, Quinn describes the difference between this and her private line as, "usually the quality and price of the fabrics." With the more expensive Quinn New York label she is able to use fabrics from Europe, especially Ireland and Italy, and hand-beaded fabrics from India. These expensive fabrics are not economically feasible for large department store lines. Though she is somewhat creatively limited in her corporate career, she does not intend to leave it entirely. "I would like to work eventually as a consultant for stores." she says. "It keeps you in touch with the trends and the market." For her private label,which is purchased through private orders--and soon to be in some SoHo boutiques--she says, "I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm taking inspirations from the 1950's and 1960's and updating it with contemporary fabric, and they're a little funky as well." Quinn describes her designs as contemporary and commercial, some even have a fun side. She combines both Irish and American influences in her mostly evening and daywear designs. In this season's collection the Dublin native has a traditional Irish sweater, in bustier or camisole form, that is made from Irish lamb's wool, yet is suitable for summer wear. "It makes lamb's wool look like a yarn sweater," she says. "It takes the traditional and opens it up more with the contemporary aspects." To make the risque bustier more conservative it can be paired with the coordinating 3/4 sleeve shrug."

When designing for musicians-including the Irish singer Donna and the drummer from Courtney Love's band Hole--Quinn looks at the band's image and listens to the music to find out where the band is going stylistically. For these onstage designs she also needs to take into account the stage lighting aspects, and what colors and patterns work best under the lights. "Strobe lights do not pair well with light colors," she explains. For the long term, she hopes to branch more into working on music videos and designing styles for the artists to represent the band's image. "Image is an important factor, especially in America, it's in video and commercials," she says. "But I still want to be designing clothes [under her Quinn New York label]."

And if the fashion world were ever to crumble, she could always become a magician. Quinn worked with Peugeot on the launch party for one of their new cars by making drapes of particular colors and fabrics which a magician would then use to make one car disappear and another appear.and that's not her only magical experience. She also designed outfits for The Venetti Brothers when they performed at the K Club. But these were no ordinary outfits. She made vests for the magicians, embroidered with playing cards and dice,Then she had to make a miniature version for the magician's rabbit, so he could be pulled from the hat wearing a matching vest.

Aside from the traditional clothing line and quirky costumes, Quinn has also designed more utilitarian outfits--uniforms for upscale, trendy hotels and restaurants. But don't think they're all white aprons that tie in back. Quinn says her designer style still shows through. She designed the uniforms, but the companies were given final approval on the fabric used. "I was given a lot of free range, but to a degree."

Of course with the musicians it's also about fabric. She uses lots of pleather and faux furs, and even admits to using real leather and rabbit furs in the designs, citing her red pleather pants as a popular rock item in this animal-conscious society.

From rock style to contemporary to conservative, Quinn, who turns 35 in April, says her approach allows for,"mix and match---pairing the funky with the conservative." While rock musicians might dare to wear the hotel uniform vest with the red pleather pants, one will likely never see a bellboy with people's luggage wearing Quinn's red pleather pants paired with the conservative uniform vest.