UNA HEALY

FASHION INSIDE with

by Linda Pototzki

Behold the Irish charm that accounts for a fifth of the chart-topping girl band sensation who told us “you need to have a sit down with your ego” and racked up a whopping 13 Top Ten singles and 5 Top Ten albums. Of course, we are referring to Una Healy of the Saturdays.

e just couldn’t ‘get enough’ of our girl on the band’s E! reality show ‘Chasing the Saturdays’. Since the band’s 2014 hiatus, this month’s cover girl took her seat as the Voice of Ireland judge and is currently the presenter of UK’s Country Hits Radio since last year. Indeed a lady true to her lyrics proving her success is only going up, she has not only since turned her hand to the country music singing scene, but she also channels her love of fashion through her signature Una Healy Original Collection shoe line and her now most recent collaboration with Littlewoods Ireland. In the spirit of the Littlewoods partnership, Una divulges all about her love for fashion. The Tipperary native says she has always had an interest fashion even before the Saturdays’ era. The 2008 Virgin Media Award, Hottest Female winner said: “I was actually told a few times to dress down a bit – to be taken a little bit more seriously. I love dressing up, it is an important part of being on stage to put on your performance outfit and it is like an alter ego, isn’t it? Even the country music scene now, fashion is so important but for me, it always was because someone said ‘dress down a bit to be taken more seriously’ but I didn’t listen to them. Then obviously I massively embraced it when I was on the Saturdays, getting to wear all those outfits was like a dream come true.” In terms of the evolution of this Irish treasure’s style from the Saturday’s era to now being a busy mum of two, to seven-year-old Aoife Belle and four-year-old Tadhg John, Una says she is not a fan of the “mumsy look”.

I don’t like mumsy looks, so I didn’t change just like that because I gave birth and I am a mum and I am going to start dressing like a mum.

“I actually went back out on stage five weeks after having Aoife Belle and I remember I did The Voice after having Tadhg, so it was like straight back into dressing up again. But when I went home all the outfits came off and I was in my comfies. When I am out and about, I always like to be stylish and it is very important for me. I don’t like that mumsy look. I guess if I was to describe my style, I love that kind of rock-chic/boho look.” You can certainly see hues of this singer-songwriter’s personal style in her latest edit. The capsule-like collection is versatile enough that it can be mixed and matched and what’s more, it is not just one brand of Littlewoods Ireland, it is a combination of high street brands like V by Very, River Island and Whistles. This signals a really good balance and cross-section of price points. “They are all really good quality but they are obviously more affordable – it is high street at the end of the day. A lot of the high street is very ontrend [just] like what designer and not everyone can afford to have a whole wardrobe of designer wear. So I just think these are amazing quality items that are very on-trend with top designers as well.” A SLAVE TO FASHION Una notes that while it is practical to dress comfortably but for big red carpet events sometimes being stylish sometimes trumps the comfort card. Una recalls wearing one of her favourite looks, a deep blue, heavily embellished Crystal Design number which she donned at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2018. Una admits how this look made her unapologetically “a slave to fashion”.

UNA HEALY

She confesses: “I was so in love with it that night I forgot that what I was doing the whole night as I was chaffing off the dress. I remember sitting in the bath two days later and it was like I had been dragged through a hedge! Like all my arms were so scary looking it was like I had been rolling around in a thorn bush. I remember thinking, this is like I’m a slave to fashion now. That is where I chose style over comfort – I just loved that dress so much so I was like I don’t care.” FASHION INFLUENCE The 38-year-old’s first fashion inspiration was her mother, Anne. Anne, a massive fan of her collaboration with Littlewoods Ireland, Una still counts on her mother’s fashion advice when choosing her latest looks to this day. “Well, it was kind of different people at different ages. So as far back as I can remember, I guess I just remember my mother with her clip-on earrings and loads of suits. She always had those suit skirts. But I never got into. “Yeah, so there [are] certain things she used to love. I remember she said she went to some event in the late ‘70s and she had some skinny jeans on and a blazer and really high block platforms… and she said that people were all like ‘she’s really dressy’ but I thought that sounded amazing!” The self-taught guitarist’s other fashion inspiration is the iconic Kate Moss. “I remember loving the era of Kate Moss and her look. She was always very into skinny jeans, vest tops, leather jackets, the boho/ grunge look.” With her fellow-Saturday, Mollie, Littlewoods range, Una speaks what interested her in this new collaboration. “Mollie King had a range with Littlewoods Ireland last year, all the girls in the Saturdays worked on different brands. It is like a real dream for me to have one with such an amazing brand like Littlewoods Ireland. It just looks so good and I can’t believe I’ve just got an Una edit – it is crazy! “I also just want to see everybody - I think that is why it is great that Instagram in that perspective is great that people tag themselves. I just want to see everybody wearing it and putting the hashtag out so I can see what it is like, and everybody rocks the outfit so differently, every outfit looks so different on everyone.” On your marks, get set, tag!