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Life

04th Aug 2017

An ode to this piece of iconic Irish fashion which is finally getting the recognition it deserves

A great day to be Irish.

JOE

Aww, the Aran jumper.

Ranked in the same category as Tayto’s crisps, Barry’s Tea, the GAA and U2, the Aran jumper is as Irish as Colin Farrell swallowing a pint of Guinness.

So, we were delighted to hear that the famous jumper has made its way to an exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in New York as one of the world’s most iconic fashion designs.

A jumper from the National Museum of Ireland, Country Life in Turlough Park in Castlebar, Co Mayo is the chosen one to travel across the water to be apart of the 111 most famous garments over the last 100 years.

I had seen these woolly jumpers around the place when I was younger but it wasn’t until I started getting into a little band called Oasis, did I actually realise what it was called, and how big they were.

Even in 2006, Liam Gallagher was still the epitome of cool and normally his stance, his hair and his singing would be enough to make me think, fuck, but when I came across this video on YouTube, he had outdone himself…

Clip via adriantino

Oasis had reached the Promised Land and Knebworth would go down in history (and Noel would make sure you didn’t forget, shouting ‘this is history’ at the crowd to which Liam replied, ‘history? I thought it was Knebworth.’

When you think of Knebworth, you think of 250,000 people, five best friends rocking out together and a beautiful cream Aran jumper right out at the front, in the spotlight where it deserves to be.

As I got older, I realised that Gallagher wasn’t the first famous musician to wear the jumper and make it his own.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

They didn’t wear Aran jumpers, Aran jumpers wore them…

Clip via CR’s Video Vaults

The story goes that the Brothers’ mother sent over Aran sweaters to her sons in the Big Apple following some terrible snow and ice storms.

Off they went to a nightclub in Manhattan wearing their new woolly garments and their manager at the time, Marty Erlichman, said that it was the ‘look’ the band had been looking for.

They wore the sweaters on their next appearance on the renowned, The Ed Sullivan Show, and you know the rest.

Maybe it was Gallagher, Clancy or Makem. Maybe it was none of those people. Maybe you did it as a fashion statement or maybe you just did it for comfort.

Regardless of the reason, we’ve all worn an Aran jumper at some stage in our lives and the good thing about them is they’re for every kind of occasion.

They go with jeans as well as they go with tracksuit bottoms and the colour doesn’t matter because as long as the top half is Aran, the bottom half doesn’t matter.

A phrase that all men love to hear rings true for this jumper because, in all honesty, size does not matter when it comes to this type of jumper.

It can be a tight fit, snuggly top half or it can be loose and long.

Aran jumper, you deserve your place alongside the top dogs as one of the world’s most iconic pieces of fashion.