This illustrated article is the Irish entry in the 'Berg Encyclopaedia of World Dress and Fashion, Volume 8, West Europe'. The article outlines the main forms of dress extant in Ireland from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century, and discusses the transformation from folk dress to fashionable dress in many communities in Ireland during the period. The example of Limerick city in the 1950s is taken to give a snapshot of the world of fashion and its intersection with identity in a newly-independent Ireland in the second quarter of the twentieth century.
Note: The 10-volume Berg
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion has been the recipient of many
awards: the 2011 Dartmouth Medal and the
Booklist Editor’s Choice, 2011, among
them. The online library of which it is a significant part has also won and
continues to win awards for digital
content.