Irish clothing

The Irish Girl by Ford Maxon Brown, 1860
An Irish colleen in traditional dress, c.1890

Traditional Irish clothing is the traditional attire which would have been worn historically by Irish people in Ireland. During the 16th-century Tudor conquest of Ireland, the Dublin Castle administration prohibited many of Ireland’s clothing traditions.[1] A series of photos captured by French photographers Marguerite Mespoulet and Madeleine Mignon-Alba in 1913 included images of Irish people in traditional clothing. Some of these photos were taken in Claddagh, a town thought to have retained much of its traditional attire.[2]

Aran jumpers were invented in the early 20th century. Irish Tweed is a woven fabric incorporating multi-coloured neps - scraps of wool said originally to have been swept from the floor under the looms at the end of the day, and incorporated into the next day's weaving. In the past, much weaving was done in the home, with the fabric being delivered to a broker. Today, a few mills exist around Ireland which re-create this tweed in the traditional manner. Donegal is the heartland of Irish tweed and Donegal tweed is better known than other Irish tweeds.

  1. ^ Jaster, Margaret Rose (2001). "Breeding Dissoluteness and Disobedience: Clothing Laws as Tudor Colonialist Discourse". Critical Survey. 13 (3): 61–67. ISSN 0011-1570.
  2. ^ "First color photos of Ireland taken by two French women in 1913". IrishCentral.com. Retrieved 2024-03-03.

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