In the month of January, esteemed Irish hat-maker, Philip Treacy, found himself amongst the league of 13 individuals conferred with the Prestigious Presidential Distinguished Service Award for Irish expats, under the classification of arts, culture, and sport. The Irish fashion scene has also witnessed other noteworthy personalities making waves beyond the national borders. Among them are Simone Rocha, the first-ever Irish designer to receive an invitation to guest Jean Paul Gaultier’s high-end fashion collection in Paris, as well as JW Anderson, tapped by Time magazine as one of 2024’s most influential individuals. Dublin-born Seán McGirr holds a prestigious position as the creative spearhead of Alexander McQueen, and Róisín Pierce has taken Irish lace and crochet to the global stage, earning the patronage of Parisian fashion house Comme des Garcons. Laura Weber was the creative force behind the Irish Olympic team’s parade uniforms, while Sinéad O’Dwyer secured the significant €50,000 Zalando award, paving the way for her to feature at the most recent Copenhagen Fashion Week.
Despite their international success and status as representatives of Irish skill in fashion and textiles, they still aren’t formally recognised within the realms of Irish cultural identification.
The existing Arts Act of 2003, supplied by an annual Arts Council budget of €134 million, defines the arts as “any original or interpretative form of expression, whether it be traditional or modern, particularly evident in visual art, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus, and architecture, or any medium employed for such purposes.” Unfortunately, the Act makes no reference to textiles, design or craftsmanship.
In light of this, there is a glaring absence of state financial aid or assistance extended towards the fashion and textiles niches. The only probable sources of help are private schemes such as Create or the Golden Fleece awards that endorse material culture. Even though fashion and textiles notionally sit under the jurisdiction of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, which is supplemented by Enterprise Ireland to the tune of €4.5 million annually, fashion remains a marginal component of their Future Makers awards, largely overshadowed by the emphasis on jewellery and ceramics in terms of education.
Alex Milton, the head of design at NCAD, asserts that fashion is an industry of global scale with numerous applications and its influence extends across numerous sectors. Milton insists that fashion will not gain global recognition unless it ceases to be viewed as a minor enterprise. Despite this, Rion Hannora, a promising young Irish designer who considers the human body as a canvas, had her applications rejected from both the Agility Award by the Arts Council and the Basic Income for Arts scheme on grounds that her creative expression through clothes is commercialised, rather than a facet of visual arts, as put forth by an officer from the Arts Council.
The tale of how Donegal tweed came to be a renowned fabric lies profoundly within the annals of Irish history. In economic terms, design as a sector depicts robust growth in Ireland and contributes over €2.6 billion to the economy. Even within the European Union, half of the top-size corporations are French luxury fashion companies selling the essence of France. However, the Creative Industries roadmap in Ireland only considers digital industries, neglecting the intrinsic value of material culture like fashion and textile.
The authorities seem to dismiss the creative process involved in the design and creation of a garment, overlooking its correlation with architectural principles. This was a topic Christian Dior addressed in 1955 during a revolutionary lecture at the Sorbonne, stating that his duties as a designer correlate to architectural guidelines. The current perception that discards fashion as commercial and fails to acknowledge its growing importance as an artistic and creative expression warrants a serious reconsideration.
Irish ambassadors such as Patricia O’Brien, Geraldine Byrne Nason, and Elizabeth McCullough have proudly showcased Irish fashion at various events abroad in recent times. Similarly, Niall Burgess, Ambassador in Paris, hosted a recent show by Róisín Pierce and President Michael D Higgins even bolstered the local Irish tweed. However, the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks has not exhibited any fashion and textiles since ‘The Way We Wore’ display 24 years ago. Conclusively, the question arises whether our National Museum is doing enough in representing and promoting Irish fashion.
Ireland’s rich history is intertwined with its textile industry, with an iconic piece being Donegal tweed, a beloved fabric with its own unique chronicle. The exquisite craftsmanship of Irish-made lace and crochet displays a historic resonance, acting as a lifeline for numerous families following the famine. This bears testament to the remarkable skill of Irish women. The brilliance of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement was first illuminated not on home soil, but in Boston, in March 2016.
Textiles have also served as a revolutionary art form, with fibre art now making its debut in various museums, ranging from the Pompidou in Paris in 2018 to London’s Tate Modern in 2022, with additional showcases at the Barbican, MoMA and Vienna’s MAK Museum. The Aran knit, a renowned Irish textile that recently had the fashion world enthralled in The Banshees of Inisherin, is recognised by New York’s MoMA as a lasting, potent example of 20th-century fashion and design. However, the shuttering of Ó Máilles in Galway in April, after championing Aran handknits for beyond 80 years, carries a bleak message for Irish heritage.
Sybil Connolly is a deserving figure of credit for embedding Ireland in global fashion history, utilising Irish tweed and linen. Serving as an employer to 100 people during the 1950s, a period of extreme emigration from Ireland, she operated in Merrion Square for over four decades. Yet, there is no visible tribute to her; no statue, no memorial, no commemorative plaque.
Contrastingly, many countries have a broader official view on culture and the arts. French culture enlists arts, architecture, gastronomy and fashion, while Italian culture encompasses the wide range of art, design, fashion and food, defining fashion as an embodiment of artistic values and ingenuity. In the UK, the culture is also well-rounded, with British fashion designers, unlike their Irish counterparts, receiving substantial support and recognition from institutions such as the British Fashion Council.
There is a significant need for official Ireland to reconsider the Arts Act of 2003 and honour Irish fashion and textiles with the acknowledgement they so rightfully merit.