THE changes experienced by this country over the past 20 years have been so profound and far reaching that it would be remarkable if our sense of style and self image had remained unaffected. "Traditional Irish style" as it is understood today is really a creation of the 1950s, when an indigenous fashion industry first emerged. The leading designers of the time sensibly chose domestic fabrics - tweed, linen and lace - but utilised these to give their clothes what was, at the time, a strongly contemporary quality. So powerful was the impact of this generation that their work largely defined the form Irish style took for the next three decades. Tourists who came to Ireland in ever growing numbers came to see certain forms and fabrics as being quintessentially Irish - and manufacturers here were happy to cater to this belief.
But even as it appeared static Irish style was altering according to circumstances. First to go was the kind of formality that the original generation of designers such as Irene Gilbert and Sybil Connolly brought to their clothes. During the 1960s, casual dressing began to be much more popular worldwide, so smartly tailored tweed suits and silk poplin or pleated linen ball gowns no longer found much of a home in anyone's wardrobe. This increased informality found a strong weld come in Ireland, where a casual tone has always been popular This helps to explain the enduring success of knitwear manufacturing here, probably the sector of the Irish clothing industry which has experienced the least change over the past half century.
A relaxed approach to dressing among the Irish was observed earlier this year by American John Fairchild, who commented favourably after his visit here; "I noticed that the ladies of Ireland of all ages are dressed in anti fashion fashion chat has nothing to do with the wild excesses of Paris and Milan. They look relaxed and alive, their hair is all slightly wind blown and casual; there's an absence of make up."
Citing Penny Guinness ("perfectly chic in a large baggy sweater") and Madame Olda Fitzgerald as examples of understated Irish taste, Fairchild remarked that they "possess the natural version of the style where anything goes so long as it's feminine.
This kind of informality in matters of dress means that tradition has not been allowed to hinder change. And change has been necessary because traditional Irish style reflected the society from which it was born; a society which has now almost vanished. Traditional dress in this country essentially rural in inspiration, employing heavy and hard wearing fabrics like wool and tweed.
However, with one third of the total population now living in the greater Dublin area, the Irish have become essentially an urban nation for whom the old forms of clothing would be inappropriate. Less bulky and lighter dress is now the norm here, not least because we spend less time outdoors and no longer need so much protection from the cold. The widespread installation of central [heating in Ireland is also responsible for changing the character of our style.
Traditional Irish dress evolved in response to specific, often economic circumstances. Lace making, for example, spread rapidly across the country in the middle of the last century thanks to French nuns teaching the skill as a means of alleviating post famine poverty. Aran sweaters assumed their present form only this century, largely because of demand from visitors to the west of Ireland.
EQUALLY, no matter how deeply engrained the tradition may seem, it will wither if the support is not there. Northern Ireland's linen industry shows just how completely the situation can alter. At the start of [this century, demand for linen was so great that related industries also blossomed; shirt manufacturing, for example, had become so important in the 1900s, that in Derry alone some 720,000 shirts were being produced every week.
That industry has now disappeared and, although there was a global revival of interest in the fabric for spring/summer 1994 the current perilous state of the linen business was indicated less than a fortnight ago with the news that the 130 year old Andrew Mill in Comber, Co Antrim is to close in the New Year.
Other than in the mind of tourists, Irish style is free of sentimentality, and that is reflected in the casual approach to clothing which has emerged in recent years. "What's stylish about us is our personal demeanour," says designer Lainey Keogh. "This permeates everything we do; so style has less to do with whether "someone has spent a lot of money on clothes, it's more to do with [your personality and personal style." Accordingly, if The Quiet Man best embodies traditional Irish style, the film which captures the spirit of our new dress code is 1991's The Commitments. This, accurately portrays a relaxed urban style and the way in which Ireland's youthful population dresses; even when members of the band don evening clothes, they do so in a fashion which has none of the formality usually associated with these items.
Inevitably, the influence of American style is visible in contemporary Ireland. Denim has replaced tweed as the favourite fabric, cotton check shirts are more likely to be worn than their linen counterparts. New York journalist Mark Ganem, who visited Ireland last September to write a feature on the country for next month's edition of W magazine, says what he found here "was an unself conscious style that is founded on a strong sense of self assurance".
This assurance ensures that while the trans Atlantic presence is now strong in Irish style, it is no more overwhelming than English taste. Ireland's new dress sense is something of a marriage of these two without the extremes of either. Designer Louise Kennedy believes the arrival of so many international labels in this country over the past decade has exercised an influence over our style. But she argues that the burgeoning Irish music industry has been just as important in determining the country's new image. Bands such as U2 and The Cranberries have a distinctive urban style which owes little to the traditional Irish forms. There is little of the brilliance of colour favoured by Americans (the Irish continue to prefer dark tones for clothes) nor the radical forms which are so much a feature of London's fashion scene - Mark Ganem summarises Irish style as "the best of American casual and European chic".
DESIGNER Paul Costelloe, referring to the current invasion of British chainstores into, Ireland and the effect this may have on indigenous style, suggests "the ingredient that will save us from becoming another Glasgow or Manchester is the Irish personality which radiates through all clothing".
The casual character of the Irish noted by John Fairchild leads to a preference for anti style style. This can be seen in a fashion spread photographed for the August issue of W magazine by Perry Ogden. Called The Dubliners, the 14 page spread was shot around the Ringsend area and features a mixture of professional models and locals, all of them dressed in the current season's clothing from international collections - one small child is shown wearing a striped cashmere sleeveless sweater from Chanel.
Because English born Ogden is now resident in Ireland, his photographs show an understanding of contemporary Irish style which is a world away from the kind of traditional images usually favoured by visiting fashion teams.a The clothes in this W shoot may be from the likes of Hermes and Christian Lacroix but they are worn in an almost off hand manner. Understandably, after this spread's appearance, some of W's American readers wrote to express their shock that there should be so little of traditional Ireland and its style in these photographs.
But these pictures also show "that while the clothes may change, 50 aspects of Irish style remain immutable. Many of the faces shown in Perry Ogden's shots are little different from those seen in, the photographs taken by Dorothea Lange in the west of Ireland more than 40 years ago. Paul Costelloe is just one among many commentators who note the distinctive character of Irish skin colouring "and, of course, our redheads which are so special, taken for granted at home but marvelled at everywhere else".
Some outside observers have no doubt become aware that traditional style here has largely gone but what remain consistent are the Irish facial characteristics. Even when dressed in the most informal - or international - o7f clothes, our unique colouring helps ensure that we retain our very own, Irish sense of style.
