She wore Guineys blazers and Penneys suits when building her business, now Linda Kiely's €150,000 designer wardrobe that has been admired by Michelle Obama is going on sale for a good cause... and you won't believe the value prices

Published: 22:15, 17 July 2026 | Updated: 22:15, 17 July 2026 Linda and Dan Kiely of VoxPro are famous for building a company from six employees to 6,000 before selling it for €150 million. They took a small Cork-based paging company above a pub and turned it into an international business with clients like Google before selling it to TELUS International and reaping a lucrative reward for their 20-plus years of entrepreneurship. Along the way Linda also built an amazing wardrobe of designer clothing and now in an act of impressive altruism, the couple are selling some of these luxury items to raise funds for My Lovely Horse and St Luke’s Home in Cork.  My Lovely Horse is a charity that reflects Linda’s love of animals, while St Luke’s nursed her aunt, ‘an incredible woman’ who was an inspiration to the couple. Tom Ford two-piece, part of today's sale The sale is being managed by Cork-founded resale platform Luxury Exchange today, in a one-day event at Studio 10, Wicklow Street, Dublin 2. Brands to feature will include Balmain, Chanel, Chloé, Saint Laurent, Dior, Tom Ford, Gucci, Missoni, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Pucci, Prada, Versace and Valentino – a roll call with amazing designer pedigree. It offers luxury styles for less with sizes encompassing UK8 to UK14 and prices from €29, alongside one-size pieces, like costume jewellery and small accessories, as well as shoes. Typically a very private person, Linda is opening her wardrobe to the public with the sale and hopes the event will be a great success. Dan Kiely says his wife has always loved fashion and possessed great personal style even when they had no money for clothes in the early days of VoxPro. He recalls her going to a meeting with an investor in a trouser suit from Primark that cost €30, paired with a pair of sandals that were $20, yet looking amazing. She could always make an inexpensive item look ten times the cost. Linda and Dan Kiely, he says she has the ability to know what to wear all the time ‘Linda has that ability,’ Dan says. ‘I’ve seen her wear a red double-breasted blazer from Michael Guiney’s back in the day, that my mother bought her. She rocked that with a pair of white jeans, and everybody thought it was Escada. ‘Linda has that natural ability and charisma to be able to make the most inexpensive look travel. She wore that for a summer because we were trying to build a business at the time. We didn’t have any money for clothes. ‘That’s what I saw from Linda from the get-go. She also had the natural power of putting a really statement jacket with a pair of very cool jeans and high heel boots and things like that. ‘It did help that she was 5ft 10 without heels and a 34in outside leg,’ he laughs. ‘It comes so naturally to her, the style, not taking away from the fact she is one of the most astute businesswomen I’ve ever come across. Roberto Cavalli and Pucci outfits available today ‘Her read of a balance sheet is so fast and her read of people was a huge, huge asset to our business in terms of she could see things I couldn’t,’ he adds. He is also quick to point out that Linda’s sense of glamour was an asset to the business as it helped them create a profile and attract the right people to work with them. ‘Fashion played a big part in that, no doubt,’ he says. His wife has always had the ability to instinctively know what to wear. ‘She just naturally goes to the wardrobe and finds the right thing for the right occasion without putting too much thought into it,’ he explains. ‘She would just get it so right.’ Dolce & Gabbana and Tom Ford outfits will be at the sale today Despite her success, she is still conscious of over-spending. Dan admits he doesn’t tell her the price of pieces in case she admonishes him that they are too expensive. ‘I mean, one of the things that’s been bittersweet about this whole experience is that every time I look at the clothes, there’s a story behind them,’ he now says. ‘We were in Bond Street, and we went into Tom Ford, and there was a cream three-piece suit that was insane. ‘It was his typical asymmetric zip on the pencil skirt, which is Linda’s go-to, and it was cream, a colour she loved. She bought the skirt but she’s like, “I cannot justify that for the jacket,” and she left it there. I said, “You know, we work hard enough.” She said, “I can’t and don’t do it because I won’t enjoy it.”’ Months later they were in New York and Linda went to the Tom Ford shop again. ‘So she comes out of the dressing room, and is wearing a three-piece and his famous stiletto heel, which is kind of curved forward. Being 5ft10 and putting another four inches onto her long legs... ‘So there was this guy, and he looked her up and down, then he smiled at me and nodded, I nodded back. ‘Then the lady manager of the store comes running over and said, “Do you know who that was?” I said, “No,” and she said, “That was Mr Ford.”’ A Dolce & Gabbana dress and a Missoni jumpsuit available from Linda Kiely's wardrobe The manager told Dan that Ford had said Linda was ‘very chic’. Dan told his wife, but she was unimpressed, saying, ‘Why didn’t you run down the street and get a discount off him?’ However, she bought the suit, and it is in the sale today. ‘Like nearly every garment, it tells a story of things we did together, or people we met along the way,’ he says. He recalls how they attended Elton John’s Oscar party, where Linda was talking animatedly to a lovely girl who admired her dress while he was getting the cold shoulder from Sharon Stone. He had to tell Linda it was Heidi Klum. Linda asked, ‘Who’s Heidi Klum?’ Dan and Linda with Michelle Obama, who admired Linda's Gabriella Hearst suit Then he recounts how when Michelle Obama was doing her sell-out tour, they were lucky enough to be invited to meet her. On seeing Linda, the former first lady exclaimed, ‘That suit is exquisite. Where did you get it?’ ‘She didn’t even speak to me,’ laughs Dan. ‘She ended up linking Linda’s arm and they went off talking in a corner, and I barely got to say hello.’ That orange two-piece trouser suit that the pair bonded over is in the sale too. On enquiring if his wife stole his wardrobe space, Dan replies immediately: ‘Yeah, like I mean, we ran out of real estate for clothes.’ Linda and Dan enjoy a day at the races. This dress will be available today Like many women, Linda kept everything for years, sometimes decades, so eventually they hit on the idea of the sale. Despite her glamorous image and innate sense of style, Dan says his wife remains ‘so down to earth’. Perhaps that is why she is so keen to give her beloved pieces a second life with new owners while supporting causes close to her heart. ‘Linda’s always worn clothes, clothes have never worn her,’ Dan stresses. Now some other lucky women will get the chance to do the same. Early arrival for this one-off sale is highly recommended. Get more information at luxuryexchange.ie Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.