REDUCED Dress In Ireland

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The most evident distinction is the sheer professionalism of Dunlevy's work... with great authority she knits together literature and material remains, and weaves fashion, history and politics into a seamless garment.

If our Grand-Dames of Old From their Graves could behold How their Daughters, like Mad-Women dress As they lie in their Tombs They'd repent that their wombs ever bore such a whimsical race'
From The Whipping Tom, Dublin 1730

Although written in 1730 the sentiment applies to every age where parents had difficulty in understanding the displays of independence exercised by their children who espoused novel dress styles, which were attractive to their own peer group.

Throughout much of our history the clothes worn gave signals to contemporaries of the status, aspiration and wealth of the wearer. For many centuries this was shown through clothing that protected against wind and rain, the length of fabric used in a garment, the number of garments owned and the ownership of cloth which did not scratch the skin. Status was signalled too through the use of articular colours, which were controlled by law.

These signals and many others are recalled in this book, all of which relates to aspects of the lives and attitudes of our ancestors.

The work is based on historical and archaeological research and on contemporary literature and documents. Each chapter begins with a brief historical summary of the political and military history of the period. Costume is then considered under the relevant headings of e period - English and Irish dress styles in Ireland as well as that at Court and that of the poor. At the end of each chapter a listing of the textiles used during the period is given as well as references to source material for students of Irish dress and textiles.