As a rule, we Irish have never been very good at dressing up. Other nations thrill to the idea of elaborate costume and formal clothing but in this country, it just seems to be an unnecessary nuisance - we are all perfectly capable of enjoying ourselves without first climbing into some special rig. The greatest groans are reserved for occasions when evening dress is demanded. Particularly among men, this is perceived as being an intolerable torment and a disincentive for accepting invitations. Probably the favourite dress code here would specify sweaters and T-shirts. The current global trend towards casual style accordingly finds us fully prepared and ready to party. There are exceptions, of course. The most notable of these is Birr Vintage Week, an annual costume drama which has now been running in the Midlands town for almost 30 years. The temptation to explain Birr's delight in dressing up as being prompted by a dearth of any other distractions in the vicinity will be resisted. There is no reason why denim, otherwise the nation's favourite fabric, should not be equally welcome in Offaly, but such is the case. It looks as though at least another century must pass before jeans find a welcome at Birr Vintage Week.
As events last weekend showed, quite which vintage is being celebrated remains unclear. Both at Saturday afternoon's Georgian cricket match - played according to 1744 rules - and the costume ball later that evening, the choice of dress was eclectic, spanning the best part of two centuries. Historical accuracy is for pedants as far as clothes were concerned. Periods were mixed with abandon, not just among groups of revellers but even in individual ensembles. Usually, a vague attempt at achieving some kind of uniformity was attempted, with varying degrees of success. As these pictures demonstrate, the most common choice was to dress in an approximation either of mid-18th or pre-1914 clothing. The former was obviously more popular among men than women for whom pannier skirts, sack-dresses and towering wigs would have posed quite a challenge. Despite the recent popularity of Jane Austen's novels on screen, the simpler option of Empire-style muslin dresses does not appear to have been widely considered. Instead, at least during the day, women generally opted for a variant on Edwardian style - lace-trimmed white lawn blouses and long skirts with decorated straw hats. Congratulations to Rosalind Fanning for the most fully-realised outfit in this vein.
COME evening, the approach became even more erratic, with everything from post-Restoration costume to contemporary ballgowns. The latter will eventually be classified as vintage too - so perhaps their owners were simply anticipating what has yet to happen.
Birr Vintage Week continues until Sunday.
