How Rising Star Designs Became Champions of Inclusivity

Taken from Issue 001 of The Irish Dance Globe. Purchase any remaining copies here while stocks last.

In a sport filled with dozens of costume designers to choose from, Rising Star Designs stands out not only for their eye-catching designs, but for the unique perspective that they bring to their craft. In the 10 years since founding the company, Keith Marron has continued to push the boundaries of Irish dance costume design, looking to inspiration in places like pop culture and nature.

Along with also designing striking gender-neutral costumes for dancers, last year they announced their decision to be “neutral”, with no school or organisation affiliations. “I don’t care how dancers place as long as they enjoy wearing their costume,” Keith says. “Because I want to show you what you can achieve.” Here, Keith opens up about his journey to becoming a dressmaker, the motivation behind last year’s neutrality announcement, inclusive costume designs, and the mark he hopes to leave on the Irish dancing community.

How did you start designing Irish dance costumes? Did you dance when you were younger?

Never danced in my life. I’ve always been into art and design from an early age. So I started as a graphic designer. I got my degree in Visual Communications and Layout and started out with that, did it for a year, and then the company I was with closed down. So I was looking for a new job as I was only out of university about a year, and looking for something that was in the graphic design area.

There was a company in Dublin looking for somebody that used Adobe Illustrator. And I went, “Okay, I can do that. That’s right up my street.” So I went along, and I remember walking in and there were costumes on the walls, and I’m like, “I don’t do any of this.” It was Siopa Rince. It snowballed from there. I worked there for a bunch of years, and then moved up to Belfast and started with Elevation Designs and worked with them. And again, it was an experience as you go along with how things are done. New machinery comes in and new techniques come in. I went on to Eire Designs after that. And then it got to a certain point where I kind of went, “Oh, I can’t really go anywhere else.” I love doing what I do, and I said, “I want to do it myself.” So that’s what I did. Rising Star will be 10 years next year. It’s flown by.

What inspired you to bring such a sense of individuality to Rising Star? When people look at your dresses, you can tell that there’s something special about them.

I get bored doing the same thing. It’s purely on me. I could easily do it like some companies where they will just do a certain look and then change up the colouring over it or a pattern where they’ll duplicate it over and over, and I just can’t do that. I think it’s boring for me as a person. I’m not trying to be different that way. It just makes it easier for me so that I can create each time and do something more interesting. So that’s what really kind of started it, and I’ve always been known for pushing things a bit differently, and I go, “Right, let’s see if we can do this.”

I like cosplay as well. In cosplay, you’re thinking outside the box and using different materials and trying to make things work and move down into dance as well. I like to look at different types of dance, too — I look at ballet, jazz, ice skating. I tell my customers, “Look anywhere. You might see a pattern on the floor, see something on the ground, see anything, and it’ll make sense right away.”

What is your creative process like, especially when a customer has given you free rein?

You might see something, whether you see a music video, or a magazine advert, and you kind of go, “Okay, I like that.” And I’m not going to think about that as a full dress or a waistcoat or a jacket, I’m going to think, “I like to look at that.” But I put a pin in that for another time when somebody comes to me and they want something really different. Now, when I see something I say, “How am I going to recreate this in a costume? Am I going to be able to embroider it? Are we going to be able to do that with crystals and try to keep within those constraints? Is it going to stand up to the rigours of dancing as well?”

When you’re designing for a dancer, how do you figure out how to suit their style and make them look their best on stage?

The main focus is body type. A dancer has to feel amazing onstage. So you have to have a design that suits the proportions of the dancer, and then design and colour as well. There’s certain colours that are easier on certain dancers. And as you know, we need to navigate that and in a respectful way as well. It’s all about confidence.

You’re a very inclusive dress designer — including your gender-neutral costumes — and you’ve started a lot of trends. How do you translate that to helping dancers feel comfortable and like themselves on stage?

I’m open to making whatever the dancer’s idea is come to life, as long as I think it won’t hinder them in some way. There’s been a lot of, over the last couple of years, people doing kind of copy designs or designs that are very similar to other dresses. And because they want to, they seem to think if they have a dress that looks similar, they will do better. And that’s not always the case, I can only do so much, and then you have to take over. We can get a dancer noticed on stage, but we need them to have the confidence to let that translate the whole way down.

Last year you announced that you would be going forward as a neutral costume designer. Since you’re not affiliated with any singular schools or organisations, how do you feel that helps you to better provide for your customers and serve the Irish dancing community?

I’ve worked for customers before where they either have their own school or they’re affiliated with a school in some way. In this type of dance there is a tendency to give the “better” designs to their better dancers. There’s this kind of hierarchy of messing around with dancers and seeing who’s going to stand out more than the other. So obviously we do not have any of that and I treat every dancer the same. I don’t care how they place as long as they enjoy wearing their costume. Because I want to show you what you can achieve. I think it gives me freedom, to not have to do things a certain way because we are affiliated with this or that. We can treat everybody in the same way. A lot of people appreciate that.

What was the feedback like from that social media post?

It was huge, I got massive feedback and it was amazing. I was a bit reluctant when I was about to press post on it and I was going, “Should I be doing this?” Because there’s a certain thing in Irish dance where you can stick your head too far above the parapet and you stand out. You can get some bad press from it. And I don’t want to turn people off coming to us. The neutrality thing was coming from the symbols on dresses and things that are affiliated to certain schools. I love the idea. I think it’s nice to have a medal on a dress or a globe on a dress. If you want to show your achievement of what you’ve done, why shouldn’t you have that? And why shouldn’t you be able to put your name or your initials on your dress? In the beginning, we did do that, but then I saw it being used in a different way, where it was like a marker. I think that’s very unfair. It’s not very good sportsmanship.

Is there a way that you hope to impact the Irish dancing world with your designs?

I think I just want dancers to feel comfortable in their costumes. We’ve had a few transgender dancers who have come to us recently, and dancers who don’t want to conform to wearing a dress or a waistcoat or whatever. I think things are changing in that way. I’m glad that we’ve worked with a few of these people over the last couple of years. It’s been really nice to do. They’ve said they felt they could deal with us and come to us and be accepted for it.

I just want people to know that they are welcome to come to us as an open door for any way they want to feel and express themselves on stage. It also makes things more interesting for us because we need to understand construction and design and different body shapes and that sort of thing. We find it a challenge, so it’s exciting as well. We had a dancer recently who never wanted to wear a dress. So when they got their costume it completely changed things for them and now they can perform as they want to perform. That’s what it’s all about.

How do you design your creative display dresses? What inspired you to start doing something like that?

The display dresses are always the last thing to do before a major. I always do one for Worlds and for American Nationals. In 2014, we did a light-up dress. In a way, it’s a marketing tool. With the display dresses we don’t have to conform to doing anything.

We did the Wonder Woman dress because the film came out at that stage so that was an easy one for me to replicate. It was for American Nationals so it was near the Fourth of July, and she always stands for strength and courage and independence and that sort of thing. And I said, “These are great characteristics any dancer should have.” The Nashville one was easy too. I went and bought a denim jacket, cut it up, and got a bag that had some tassels around it. I took off the tassels and just put it all together. And it was great fun to do.

Do you have any design challenges or things that you’d like to push yourself to try to do more of creatively?

You’re always challenged with body shapes. That’s always in the forefront of your mind. My biggest thing is I purposely don’t follow any of my competitors. I only ever get to see their stuff when it comes to majors when I’m walking around, because I try to stay in my own lane. Otherwise, I’ll subliminally see something in my brain and lock it in there and then two weeks later I’ll be doing something similar. I need to stay on my own thing and do my own way of thinking. So trying to keep things unique and different would be tricky. I always ask people for five of their favourite dresses because I want to see what their taste is. Is their style bold and geometric? Or Celtic traditional fine detail? And I have to do my own version, my own interpretation of it. That’s the challenge for me, to create something different each time.