Ronnie Wood and Black Swan Effect at BT2

Even though he was two hours late, the great Mr. Ronnie Wood still totally wowed the thronging crowd with an impromptu set in the window of BT2 on Grafton Street, yesterday. The gig was lined up to celebrate Arthur’s Day and to kick-start BT2′s ‘Funk Month’.

The rock legend is also in Dublin for the launch of his new clothing line, Ronnie Wood for Liberty of London which is to be stocked exclusively in Brown Thomas. It seems the chance to jam with his son Jessie’s band, The Black Swan Effect, was a promotional opportunity too good to miss. – He also jumped on stage later that evening as the band celebrated Arthur’s Day in Vicar Street to my utter joy and amazement!

Grafton Street was packed out and pretty much came to a stand-still as the Rolling Stone wielded his axe in the shop window wearing a T-Shirt from his own collection. The collaboration with Liberty was developed by the store’s creative director, Tamara Salmon, using a selection of Ronnie’s own paintings.

Of the collection he said, “I wanted to work with Liberty of London because of the great tradition that Liberty has of artistic collaborations going back to its very early days. It’s inspiring for me to work with such a prestigious company that has, in the last century, worked with amazing talents such as William Morris and A. Knox – so I’m very excited to have completed my first collection with them.”

The capsule collection launches next week and uses prints of three of Ronnie’s paintings; “I Feel Like Painting”, “Hawaiian Guitar” and my favorite, “Orchid”. The majority of the collection has been designed for women, not just rock and roll dads and includes, scarves, clutch and shopper bags shift and vest dresses and these amazing racer-back dresses…. I think I’ll be mostly desiring the Orchid print dress, (left). Prices start at £196 for the “I Feel Like Painting” vest dress and these dresses are £375.