Elegance is the order of the day at the opening of The Way We Wore, 250 years of Irish clothing and jewellery, at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, this week. More than 300 guests arrive to view the collection which includes gowns of silk, linen and wool, not to mention brooches made from sea shells, horsehair, human hair and gold.
Rita Childers, wife of the late president, peers in at the long green taffeta gown with lace collar which she wore at a special ceremony during her husband's term in office. Nelli Mulcahy, a long-standing Irish designer, is elegant in a green suit and a matching hat. John Rocha is there, elegant also - in black, of course.
The joint-opening was performed by Sile de Valera, Minister for Arts, and her counterpart in the North, Michael McGimpsey. This is the Northerner's first official visit to Dublin, but he was a student at TCD so he's fairly familiar with the city, he tells us.