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Threads: Clothes and the Irishman – A Woven History
A fascinating history of Irishmen, woven through the clothes they wear.
Taking the clothes they wore as a starting point, Paul Galvin skillfully weaves together a collection of stories of Irish men who defined the culture and mood of their time.
In ‘Push’ he tells the story of the legendary Walker Brothers - cyclists and soldiers who pedaled through a storm for Ireland at the 1912 Stockholm Games. In ‘Born Mad’, discover another side to Samuel Beckett - sartor and prolific sportsman who had knockout power as a champion boxer in school. In ‘Boland’ we learn about Harry Boland’s background as a trained tailor, and in ‘Jack’ we encounter Jack B. Yeats at the Olympic Games in Paris.
These are just some of men who have inspired Paul’s own fashion collections and whom he writes about here in a fascinating collection that shines a light on how history is woven into the clothes Irishmen wear.
Taking the clothes they wore as a starting point, Paul Galvin skillfully weaves together a collection of stories of Irish men who defined the culture and mood of their time.
In ‘Push’ he tells the story of the legendary Walker Brothers - cyclists and soldiers who pedaled through a storm for Ireland at the 1912 Stockholm Games. In ‘Born Mad’, discover another side to Samuel Beckett - sartor and prolific sportsman who had knockout power as a champion boxer in school. In ‘Boland’ we learn about Harry Boland’s background as a trained tailor, and in ‘Jack’ we encounter Jack B. Yeats at the Olympic Games in Paris.
These are just some of men who have inspired Paul’s own fashion collections and whom he writes about here in a fascinating collection that shines a light on how history is woven into the clothes Irishmen wear.
376 pages, Hardcover
Published February 22, 2023
16 people want to read
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September 4, 2023
While this is NOT a good book—poorly written, with tenuous transitions and shallow explorations of Galvin's thought process as he's constructed his conclusions—it opened many windows onto Irish history and culture that I enjoyed pursuing further on my own (crossroads dances, the evolution of sport/the GAA, early Irish Olympians); I'm now on the hunt for an excellent history of the GAA.
It's successful in those ways, and in that it makes me more curious about Paul Galvin and his collections, too. His goals are noble (making space in Irish discourse for young men to express themselves; speaking about fashion in a way that is accessible; connecting fashion to Irish heritage) and I bet his design sense is on-point. His career's evolution is inspiring, too... but none of these things are discussed in depth, or in a satisfying way, here. I picture him being rather like Lance Arroyo in The Other Two (played by Josh Segarra): creative, kind, and earnestly charming his way through life to great success. I suspect because of that success, Paul was offered a book deal, and he wisely took it without spending much time developing his new craft. But! To his credit, he didn't work with a ghost writer.
It's successful in those ways, and in that it makes me more curious about Paul Galvin and his collections, too. His goals are noble (making space in Irish discourse for young men to express themselves; speaking about fashion in a way that is accessible; connecting fashion to Irish heritage) and I bet his design sense is on-point. His career's evolution is inspiring, too... but none of these things are discussed in depth, or in a satisfying way, here. I picture him being rather like Lance Arroyo in The Other Two (played by Josh Segarra): creative, kind, and earnestly charming his way through life to great success. I suspect because of that success, Paul was offered a book deal, and he wisely took it without spending much time developing his new craft. But! To his credit, he didn't work with a ghost writer.
Displaying 1 of 1 review