The Power And Beauty Of Inter-Generational Dressing
Clothes have always been an axis around which different generations build bonds and sharing clothes through the generations breathes new life into them, writes Niamh Kennedy.
Celia Holman Lee will never forget the night she first wore her lavender Alex Perry dress to the “VIP Style Awards” 2018. Despite decades of donning the finest dresses from Irish designers, there was something special about this particular dress. It proved to be a talisman of sorts with the model going on to win the coveted “Most Stylish Ever” award. The striking full-length gown had been resting in her wardrobe ever since until a recent collaboration with ShareJoy brought it back with a bang.
As humans we have a tendency to closely guard this kind of special clothing, carefully placing it in the wardrobe for “special occasions”. But when we pass a treasured piece of clothing onto a family member or friend, we rather selflessly give it a chance to lead a second sartorial life. Each new owner will have their own unique way of styling the item and bringing it into the current fashion moment.
Left to right: Louise Cooney wearing the Alex Perry gown in an Irish Country Magazine photoshoot of ShareJoy’s summer edit. The dress was originally worn by style icon Celia Holman Lee at the VIP Style Awards in 2018. (Photos credits: Evan Doherty and VIP Magazine.
And Irish influencer and model Louise Cooney managed to do just that with Holman Lee’s dress when she wore it during a recent ShareJoy spread for Irish Country magazine. The dress was seamlessly taken from the red carpet setting to the magical garden of the Cliff at Lyons estate, simultaneously teaching us a lesson or two about the joys of intergenerational fashion
Speaking over the phone Celia told the ShareJoy team how delighted she was to see her dress given “a new lease of life” by Cooney, whom she first met as a teenager after signing her to her modeling agency.
A different way of styling
Too often we relegate clothes to one particular occasion, hanging them proverbially on one designated hanger. Ball gowns are only to be donned at black-tie events. Formal suits, destined solely for the boardroom. And it's totally understandable that when we purchase an item of clothing we are influenced by the way it is styled in the store. When we acquire a second-hand item, however, be it through thrift or inheritance we are given the chance to repurpose it.
This has certainly been the case for 24-year-old trainee solicitor Cat Moloney who decided to no longer reserve the ornate skirt given to her by her aunt Dervila for formal occasions. Whilst her aunt chose to wear the skirt with a satin trim top to settings as fine as Claridges hotel, Cat has put a contemporary spin on the item by donning it with box fresh trainers and simple tees.
Cat Moloney styling her aunt’s skirt with white trainers and a vest top.
“I think changing a piece of clothing’s purpose in your wardrobe is an easy trick to getting more wear out of it,” she says.
This sentiment is shared by journalist and entrepreneur Anne-Marie Tomchak who has brought her 94-year-old father-in-law Joe’s vivid Hawaiian shirt from the beaches of California to the offices of the BBC. The shirt which Anne-Marie describes as having a “California surfer meets pop art vibe” has been given a second life as a striking piece of smart casual workwear. And whilst Joe may have worn the shirt with a simple pair of khaki shorts, Anne-Marie has been known to pair it with a bold fuschia lip and big earrings.
It's not just a switch of purpose that can revitalise a piece of clothing, styling it with different make-up or even hair colour can make all the difference too. Raven-haired Holman Lee points to how her glamorous gown looks completely different when worn on the sunny blonde Louise Cooney.
An inherently sustainable way of living
As the world wakes up to the environmental impact of the fast fashion juggernaut, consumers often wonder what are the first steps to a more sustainable wardrobe. Although recycled fabrics and clothes rental apps each have their merits, we often forget that many of us have been engaging in more sustainable practices since childhood.
Be it the faded hand-me-downs of slightly older cousins or the glamorous cast-offs of dear grandmothers, many of us have “instinctively lived in the circular and sharing economy for a long time” says Tomchak.
By passing clothes down through generations we not only give them a second life in fashion but save them from the death sentence of the landfill pile.
Holman Lee makes a particularly convincing case for looking after the clothes already in our wardrobes. Inspired by her own mother who used to “mind things”, Holman Lee keeps all of her clothing well-wrapped and stored away in her loft. “She was born in 1921… And you know if anyone gave you something that was good you’d keep it and cherish it.”
Celia’s own wardrobe is a veritable time capsule of Irish fashion, filled with pieces she received from Irish designers such as Richard Lewis during her modelling years. And although she confesses to being a “bit of a hoarder” she takes great delight in knowing these special garments will still be in good nick by the time her 10-year-old granddaughter gets around to trying them on.
The emotional ties of clothing
Clothes have always been an axis around which people young and old have built bonds. So many milestones in modern life revolve around fashion: communions, 21st birthdays and weddings, to name but a few. And while for some, clothes will always be just a selection of stitches and seams, for others they carry powerful associations.
For mother-daughter duo Marie and Arwen Sullivan, clothes were something to be cherished and shared. Arwen died by suicide in 2020 and was the inspiration for ShareJoy. Her mother Marie fondly remembers how “flattered” she felt whenever her fashionable young daughter asked to borrow an item from her wardrobe.
Arwen Sullivan (who inspired ShareJoy) wearing her mother Marie’s kimono.
The pair shared a love of colourful kimonos, building up quite a collection over the years. Arwen even chose to wear their shared favourite during a journey to Thailand. Hunting out shiny new kimonos was a joyful activity that mother and daughter delighted in taking part in. “It was a wonderful part of my relationship with Arwen”, says Marie.
For women like Cat Moloney, growing up as the only girl among her siblings, she greatly admired the elegant style of her aunt. “Getting this skirt from my aunt was particularly significant as we are the only women born to a family full of boys. We have two brothers each and she has three sons. I’m so lucky to have such a stylish aunt and I love that the skirt is a common thread between us.” Her aunt Dervila felt “real joy” seeing her treasured skirt “back out there 15 years later” and cannot wait to see her niece sport a beaded cocktail dress from Louise Kennedy next. Good quality clothing is “a real treat” that should be “shared and lent and given away” she enthuses. Anne Marie Tomchak agrees. Having lent formal dresses and gowns to friends attending special occasions like weddings, she feels it has allowed her to “play a small part in the memories being built”.
So the next time you are searching for that perfect piece to tie together an outfit, why not(consensually!) raid the wardrobe of your siblings, parents, aunts, uncles or grandparents. You’ll not only get a piece of clothing but a precious piece of shared history.