Sorcha O’Raghallaigh is the mastermind behind Zara Larsson’s standout fashion, according to a Dazed magazine article.
O’Raghallaigh was born in County Offaly, Ireland, in the 1980s. From early on in her career, she excelled in fashion design, quickly becoming recognised as an established designer by well-known brands and celebrities. She moved to London to pursue her passion for fashion design at Central Saint Martins (CSM), the renowned arts and design college. O’Raghallaigh has designed pieces for celebrities including Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Madonna, Kate Moss and many others.
She stands out for her intricate beading and embroidery, creating looks that are undoubtedly iconic. She has her own brand where she can be commissioned to create custom pieces and displays all of her past work. O’Raghallaigh pays an insane amount of attention to detail, with, as described on her own website, some pieces taking three months to craft by hand. She has had her work displayed in publications such as Vogue (British, Italian, Scandinavian), LOVE Magazine and Dazed. Selfridges and Brown Thomas have showcased her work, and her designs have been stocked in stores in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. She most recently worked with Zara Larsson and her stylist, Caterina Ospina, to design beautifully colourful, summery and intricate outfits for Larsson’s tour of her newest album, “Midnight Sun”.
O’Raghallaigh graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2010, with her graduate show displaying her extraordinary creativity and talent. She told Dazed magazine that she wanted to create ten-foot dresses, with the garments being suspended on stilt walkers. She told the Irish Independent in July 2021 that she didn’t really care what the outcome of her final project in college was; she merely wanted to do what was right for her. She had a goal for her graduate show, and her goal was reached. Without intending to appeal to the public, her display of exquisite design and creativity made Lady Gaga’s stylist, Anna Trevelyan, reach out to her to collaborate on a piece for Lady Gaga. O’Raghallaigh was commissioned to make several pieces for Lady Gaga’s first appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2011. Gaga and her stylist chose the “wedding dress” design, a standout dress featuring colours of gold, red and black, accompanied by a stunning headpiece and veil.
O’Raghallaigh had internships with John Galliano in Paris and Diane Von Furstenberg in New York during her time studying at CSM, taking a year out of college to be able to do these internships. She said afterwards that she found these internships to be extremely valuable to her knowledge and practice of fashion design. Her approach to fashion is one of true creativity, listening to herself about what she wants to design. She told the Irish Independent in 2021 that seeing Galliano’s studio was “amazing; the pure creativity”, and that this internship greatly influenced her graduate show. She learned not to be afraid of her own creativity and to do what was true for her. She was in awe of the beading at Galliano and took this with her in her career path. She later moved to Italy for a couple of years to work with artisans. La Perla, the luxurious Italian lingerie brand, later asked her to be the head of embroidery.
Zara Larsson’s stylist, Caterina Ospina, reached out to O’Raghallaigh last August, asking her if she wanted to work on something for the pop singer. O’Raghallaigh told Dazed magazine that she often hears from stylists, but tends not to overthink things or get her hopes up too high, as sometimes nothing progresses much further than a couple of conversations. Ospina came to her with references to O’Raghallaigh’s own work, which gave her more confidence going into this collaboration. Ospina loved O’Raghallaigh’s work and wanted to bring both of their ideas together to create striking looks for Larsson’s tour. O’Raghallaigh first sketched up some ideas for Larsson’s outfit for the VMAs. The outfit was featured in Vogue Scandinavia in September 2025. O’Raghallaigh says that Ospina told her that “the hibiscus flower was key”. Her skills of embroidery and beading brought the vision to life, creating an iconic, colourful and eccentric outfit. Larsson arrived at the VMAs in a baby blue sheer mini dress, often otherwise known as the naked dress, which was dotted with pink, purple and yellow handcrafted hibiscus flowers. The flowers were also incorporated into Larsson’s accessories, with a hairpiece and ring. The gown was embellished with more embroidered pieces and gems, and a bedazzled pair of baby blue underwear underneath the beautiful sheerness, identifying Larsson’s album as a never-ending summer.
O’Raghallaigh had to ensure that the outfits she designed for Larsson’s tour reflected both Larsson and the overall vibe of ‘Midnight Sun’, while also being durable enough for Larsson to dance to her heart’s content. Larsson has recently regained her popularity, which she held nearly a decade ago, some of which can definitely be attributed to O’Raghallaigh’s beautiful, bespoke creations. Larsson’s tour and album have been hugely popular across all social media platforms, allowing for her talents to be showcased once again, with O’Raghallaigh’s creations by her side.
Sorcha O’Raghallaigh is an incredible designer. She was put on the fashion map from the beginning of her career and has only grown since then, becoming more influential and talented. Her unique designs have been the stepping stones to a hugely successful career, which will undoubtedly only become more successful with the passage of time, as Irish designers in general become more and more widely recognised throughout the world of fashion.
