Fashion design legend Paul Costelloe dies aged 80

Irish fashion designer and London Fashion Week legend Paul Costelloe has passed away at the age of 80.

The only designer to have shown at every London Fashion Week since its inception more than 40 years ago, the Irish-American designer showed his final collection in September of this year. The show was an ode to the old heritage, bold and vibrant streets of Rodeo Drive in 1960s Beverly Hills. It was fittingly titled ‘Boulevard of Dreams’.

Paul Costelloe at London Fashion Week September 2025

Costelloe's family issued a statement today saying they were "deeply saddened to announce the passing of Paul Costelloe following a short illness". The designer died in London yesterday surrounded by his wife and his seven children.

Costelloe was a true couturier but also was a designer with sharp commercial sensibilities. Alongside his London Fashion Week collections - his show was always the event's opener - he developed a highly successful business offering womenswear, menswear, bags and accessories, homeware, jewellery, eyewear and children’s occasionwear.

Paul Costelloe takes a bow a London Fashion Week in February 2023

On top of this he has created uniforms for British Airways, Aer Lingus, the Irish Olympic team and many more organisations. He came to international prominence, however, when he was appointed as the personal designer to the late Diana, Princess of Wales in 1983, just four years after he established his brand in London in 1979.

Speaking to TheIndustry.fashion podcast in 2020, Costelloe said that Diana had been the woman he had most enjoyed dressing in his long and illustrious career. His designs had been spotted in his Windsor store by Diana's Lady In Waiting, who issued an invitation to meet Diana.

Recounting the first time he met the princess, he said: "I was escorted in a room with bundles of garments and threw them on a rail, she came into the drawing room, we had tea and a chat and we just tried on the garments. I did bring flowers, which she was amazed about and she nearly made me cry. In fact, I still cry that she was so hungry for that type of person to walk in. I think I added a bit of spice to her life! I was so privileged."

Models on the catwalk at the Paul Costelloe show at the Waldorf Hotel, London, during London Fashion Week, September 2025 (PA).

His inspiration had always come from a desire to make women look beautiful. Jokingly, he described what motivated him to become a designer: "I kind of liked girls but I couldn't attract girls. I was too tall, too gawky, too unattractive, so I said 'well look, if I can't undress them, maybe I should dress them?'"

Costelloe studied at Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris and spent the 60s in Paris, surrounded by industry legends like Pierre Cardin and Emmanuel Ungaro. This informed his designs for the rest of his career, with the 60s and classic couture shapes often heavily referenced in his collections; his last being no exception.

Paul Costelloe working in his London studio

While his contemporaries, such as Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant, spent their formative years in London and were more rebellious in spirit, Costelloe remained rooted in couture with beautiful construction and fabrics (he had a particular passion for Italian fabrics) central to his designs.

"I just like dressing women," he said of his approach. "What I mean by that is I don't want to make them look ugly. I want them to look feminine and attractive. I don't want them to look like 'what is she wearing?' It's a different attitude to Vivienne Westwood, who is very experienced, very exciting and very sexy. When the 60s were on I was living in Paris. The 60s never hit Paris like they did London," he explained.

Despite his passion for fashion being formed in Paris, his commitment to London  Fashion Week was steadfast. In 2020 he showed up for London Fashion Week, despite the upheaval of the pandemic, recreating his atelier in the Waldorf Hotel and created designs and drawings live as guests were invited to watch him. He admitted he'd been tempted to retire during the pandemic in 2020 but, after the show, he prophetically and, as it turned out rather poignantly, told TheIndustry.fashion: "I'll give myself another five years, so you can let Caroline [Rush, then CEO of the BFC] know she can keep that space!"

Paul Costelloe was born in Dublin on 23 June 1945 and died in London on 21 November 2021.