To close out March and Irish Heritage Month, we thought we'd explore some of the fashion crafts and textiles that have become part of Irish culture and heritage.
Aran Jumpers
Starting off with perhaps the most famous piece of Irish wearable culture, we have the Aran Jumper, or as it is often called in North America "the fisherman sweater". This change in name was driven by commercialization of the product in the 1950s and 60s with celebrity adoption and features in Vogue magazine. Removing the cultural ties made it more acceptable for international companies to produce their own, often cheaper, versions. By the 80s and 90s, the term was being used to describe all manner of generic cable knit sweaters, and as a result many people have no idea of the ties to Ireland where it remains a cultural heritage piece. In this way, removing the name has eradicated the cultural associations of the garment. It's worth noting that the term is not used in Ireland. With that out of the way, what is it?
Irish-American actress Grace Kelly wearing an Aran jumper in 1962.
The Aran jumper (or Geansaí Árann in Irish) is a style of jumper (sweater) that takes its name from the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.
Traditional jumpers are usually off-white in colour from using undyed báinín, a homespun yarn made from Irish sheep’s wool. They were originally made with unwashed wool that still contained lanolin, making the garment water resistant.
Aran jumpers usually feature between 4-6 patterns that move down the body and sleeves in columns.
This type of knitting was invented around 1890 during an initiative to alleviate poverty on the islands. Fishermen and their wives from other regions of Ireland and Britain came to help train people in better fishing skills. Some of them brought with them a tradition of Guernsey knitting from the Channel Islands. Enterprising local Aran women began knitting their own jumpers inspired by this style of knitting. They used thicker wool, all-over patterning and different construction to make it entirely their own. The stitches varied greatly from cable to honeycomb, moss and trinity. The modern Aran jumper as we know it today can be dated to 1932 when it was commissioned by social reformer Muriel Gahan for her Dublin cottage industry shop.
The first commercial patterns became available in the 1940s from Patons of England. Vogue started writing about Aran knitwear in the 50s when Standún’s of Galway started exporting their jumpers to the United States. They employed 700 hand knitters at the time. All this coincided with Ireland officially becoming a republic in 1949 and a desire to romanticize their nationhood was strong amongst the Irish and the country's vast diaspora.
This industry provided employment for many women in Ireland and became an important part of the island’s economy with many families relying on it for their livelihood's.
Irish musicians The Clancy Brothers were often seen wearing Aran jumpers and made several appearances on American television in the early 60s clad in their trademark jumpers which fuelled the demand for them stateside.
The Clancy Brothers
At the same time, the wool began to be sourced from Australia and New Zealand rather than the coarser wool of Irish sheep. This was driven by a consumer demand for softness. This threw the Irish wool industry into complete disarray, but the Irish Grown Wool Council has since emerged to combat this.
It became difficult to keep up with the growing demand around the world. Back then, each sweater took 3-6 weeks to complete, containing approximately 100,000 stitches.
They were even influencing Parisian designers by the 1960s.
Jean Paul Gaultier runway 1985
As they became more commercialized, there was less need for people in Ireland to make them and the home knitting industry fell away as machines sprang up to cater to the demand.
There are very few people still knitting jumpers by hand on a commercial basis in Ireland, but hand knitted jumpers are still available at local Irish craft initiatives, including on Inis Mór (the largest Aran island). Do consider buying genuine Aran jumpers knit in Ireland if you are thinking of investing in one! It is their main contribution to Western and international fashion - let them have it!
You may have heard of the myths surrounding the intricate designs featured in the jumpers; that different families had their own designs, and that dead fishermen could be identified by the stitches in their jumpers. This is not true but Aran knitting companies will be the first ones to perpetuate these myths as a marketing technique! That particular one originates with a 1904 John Millington Synge play called "Riders To The Sea", in which a drowned man is identified by stitches dropped in his hand knit socks. The marketing has been so successful that you can walk into almost any Aran knitwear shop in Ireland today and find your family name in order to purchase the correct item! It may be a modern myth, but it is a lovely idea!
The Museum of Modern Art in New York named it one of the most important fashion items of the 20th century.
For more information on Aran knitwear, we recommend the book “Irish Aran: History, Tradition, Fashion” by Vawn Corrigan.
We have many Aran jumpers in our collection, an example of which you can see below.
Crios Belts
Stable of Ireland Crios Belt
Another traditional garment/accessory from the Aran Islands, Crios belts (crios is simply the Irish word for belt) were woven between one hand and one foot in six different colours. It was worn with handwoven tweed trousers by men and with skirts by women.
Irish traditional folk costume and other aspects of Irish culture were banned by the British crown under penal laws of the 17th and 18th centuries. This is why such customs only survived in remote areas, such as the Aran Islands. This heritage craft is kept alive by only a handful of people today.
Weaving a belt on the Aran Islands, 1928. Photo by Frank Stephens/ Trinity College Dublin.
Book recommendations or further information:
"Stitches in Time/ Seanstíl Éadach" or "Crios: A Weavers Quest" by Susan J Foulkes.
"Textiles of Ireland: Archeology, Craft, Art" by Elizabeth Wincott Hecket.
Irish Linen
Irish Linen is the brand name given to linen produced in Ireland.
Linen has been produced in Ireland for thousands of years but it really took off in the 17th century when it became a major industry, concentrated mainly in Ulster. The Irish wool industry was competing too successfully with that of Britain and so the British crown decided to put a stop to that by banning wool exports from Ireland. This left linen to fill the gap.
By the late 18th century, Belfast was the biggest producer of linen in the world, leading to the city being nicknamed ‘Linenopolis’.
It was mostly spun by women in their homes but with the devastation caused by the Great Famine, it forced the large industrial spinners to look for alternatives to the hand-loom weavers. By 1871, there were 78 flax spinning mills with a workforce of 43,000 in Ulster.
With the proliferation of cheaply produced man-made and synthetic fibres throughout the 20th century, flax production in Ireland steadily declined. From around 1950 onwards, most flax fibres used in the production of Irish linen have been grown in northern Europe. However, linens woven in Ireland are still highly regarded. Its brand, unique qualities of comfort, drape, and its distinctive appearance kept it a niche in the luxury market, and its unique physical properties maintained its use in industrial textiles.
Irish fashion designer Sybil Connolly used Irish textiles, including linen, in innovative ways in the 1950s and 60s. She developed a method of pleating linen to create the most luxurious garments.
Ann Gunning in an Irish Linen Sybil Connolly creation, photographed by Richard Dormer in 1955.
Irish linen is still woven today in the same traditional areas, and by descendants of those who have worked in the industry and passed down skills that were learned over many hundreds of years.
We have many examples of Irish Linen garments in our collection, many of which are from the 1930s period.
Irish Tweed/ Donegal Tweed
Donegal Tweed is a woven wool fabric made in Donegal, Ireland. Handwoven for hundreds of years, it is now machine woven since the introduction of mechanized looms in the 1950s.
The industry really picked up in the late 18th and early 19th century when The Royal Linen Manufacturer's of Ulster distributed thousands of spinning wheels and looms to homes in the Donegal countryside. In the 1880s, English philanthropist Alice Hart visited Donegal and was shocked at the level of poverty she found there. She was also impressed with the local craftsmanship and decided to revive the tweed weaving cottage industry to help alleviate unemployment. The endeavour was successful and she opened a shop in London to sell tweed products there. She went a step further and opened up embroidery schools across Ireland to produce linen embroidery inspired by the Book of Kells manuscript art.
Weavers in Donegal produce a number of different tweed fabrics including herringbone and check patterns, as well as plain woven with a a "heathered" effect, for which it is most well known.
Along with Harris Tweed, produced in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Donegal Tweed is the most famous tweed in the world. One particular company, Magee of Donegal, was established in 1886 and continues to operate today. Sybil Connolly used their tweed in many of her collections, which brought the fabric to the international couture runways.
A Sybil Connolly suit made of Magee Donegal Tweed in the 1950s.
A Donegal tweed cape in our collection
A coat in our collection made from Connemara tweed. It has a fabulous label!
A number of labels from tweed caps and hats in our collection.
Irish Dancing Costumes
Another unique garment from Ireland, though not a fashion item, is the Irish dance costume. Dancing has been performed in Ireland for centuries but the various forms were not formally promoted or codified until the early 20th century. This was done as part of the Gaelic Revival movement. Competitive structures and standardised styles were created, and from there the costume emerge.
To begin with, people just wore their "Sunday best".
1928
Eventually, something more standardized was promoted which included the use of embroidered Celtic symbols on simple woollen and linen dresses. They may also have worn Celtic design brooches (such as a Tara brooch) and Irish crochet lace. In the 1930s, the CLRG (An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha) was formed which became the main governing body for Irish Dance. They favoured early Irish dress styles (from the peak of Gaelic culture) for their costumes and a distinct look started to evolve. Think knee-length tunics with lace collars and cuffs, and wrought with Celtic designs, as well as a plain weave tweed cape (called a brat) or a shawl. The colours of the Irish flag were used - green, white and gold. They could also wear embroidered sash or rope belts.
Tomás Ó'Faircheallaigh and his sister Eileen McCormick, circa 1930.
Circa 1935
1938
Circa 1955
A girl's and boy's Irish dance costume, 1961.
Irish dance dress, circa 1975. From the National Museums Liverpool.
During the Celtic Tiger years of the 1990s when Irish culture was exploding internationally and Riverdance was everywhere, the modern Irish dancing costume emerged with vivid colours, short hemlines and sparkly embellishments.
Famed Irish costume designer Joan Bergin (The Tudors, The Prestige, Vikings and many other titles) presented a new concept for Irish Dance costume with her modern, sexy, sleek and simple designs for Riverdance. Lead dancer Jean Butler wore a navy blue velvet mini dress with crochet sleeves. Michael Flatley wore a teal satin shirt, fitted trousers and an embroidered belt. They went through a major redesign in 2015 for the 20th anniversary tour with a gorgeous green and blue swirling pattern used for the female dancers.
Michael Flatley and Jean Butler in the original Riverdance
A new design for the 2015 production
Current principal female dancer Amy Mae Dolan
We'll leave you with this video from Ian: