 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Irish clothing" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TraditionalIrish clothing is thetraditional attire which would have been worn historically byIrish people in Ireland. Such clothing among the men included the léine, brat and triúbhas while the women wore the leine, brat and gúna. These were the traditional items for centuries and are still worn today by a small number of enthusiasts. However, these items were at their height in the medieval period and went into a slow decline after the mid 17th century. During the 16th-centuryTudor conquest of Ireland, theDublin 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 later clothing. Some of these photos were taken inCladdagh.
Aran jumpers were invented in the early 20th century and are not regarded as true traditional attire.Irish Tweed is a woven fabric that has been fashionable for centuries and used for the manufacture of the brat predominantly. 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 andDonegal tweed is better known than other Irish tweeds.
_(14591264647).jpg)
Little is known about Irish apparel before the twelfth century. Historians believe that the early inhabitants of Ireland dressed inwool cloth, although some argue that garments made of animal skins were more prevalent. By the thirteenth century, the Irish were bundling themselves inmantles, which are coats made of wool cloth. Mantles were composed of wool but occasionally of animal skins. Beneath the Brat (plural bratanna), they woreléinte (singular:léine), long linen tunics that extended to the ground but were gathered into pleats and belted so that they fell to the knees (the excess material was allowed to hang down at the waist and cover the belt, as can be seen in the Dutch painting illustration). Theléine was very wide at the bottom and narrow on top. Likewise, theléine's sleeves were narrow at the upper arms but widened greatly at the elbows. The sleeves were open to allow the lower arm to emerge, but hung down behind the elbow to the knee or sometimes as far as the ground.Léinte were saffron-yellow (léine croich, 'saffron shirt'). Theléine was worn throughoutGaelic culture, including in western Scotland, up until the late 16th century. In Ireland, traditional Gaelic dress, including theléine, was banned by theDublin Castle administration.
Another garment, known as anionar, was a jacket, pleated at either beneath the breast, or at the waist, with split sleeves. Woodcarvings seem to indicate thatinar were richly decorated, possibly through embroidery. In winter, acota mór was added beneath thebrat; this was a greatcoat made of thick wool, with a small standup collar and sleeves that unbuttoned below the elbow to allow the long sleeves of theléine to come through. Less is known of the early apparel of the Irish women and children. It is likely that the earliest female inhabitants of Ireland also donnedléinte which looked similar to those of their male counterparts. By the fifteenth century, women were wearing long dresses made from wool cloth, often decorated with ribbons and other accessories. Finally, it must be stated that the Kinsale Cloak, Aran sweaters, Galway Shawl, Irish dancing costume, the Ulster Coat and especially the kilt, are not part of traditional Irish attire. The léine, brat, ionar etc are historical, traditional and national items of dress.
_(14595035740).jpg)
.jpg)
