Arans and Icons.

Jean Seberg in an Aran style knit. Image uncredited.

​I have always loved knitwear – show me an Irish woman who doesn’t. When you live in a climate as unpredictable as ours, knitwear is a wardrobe constant, regardless of season. Living in Ireland, you can always expect the unexpected, meteorologically speaking, so a trusty sweater or cardigan is essential. In Autumn, as temperatures drop and the dark encroaches, a cosy knit is like an embryonic second skin. The inclusion this October of an Irish Aran sweater, in the MoMA exhibition "Is Fashion Modern?", based around 111 items that have been elevated from fashionable to enduring elements of people's wardrobes, illustrates not only the reputation of Irish knitwear but also the longevity of a good knit.  The Aran in question is on loan from the National Museum of Ireland and dates from 1942 and while I don’t have an item of equal age in my possession, one of my favourite knits is a John Rocha sweater with cable stitches that it now almost 30 years old. 

Aran sweaters are emblematic of a simpler time in Irish life, when clothes were craft -oriented and hand-made domestically rather than mass manufactured in off shore locations. Images of rugged fisherman in their traditional oatmeal or off-white cable knits have inspired thousands of American tourists to invest in an Aran on an Irish vacation but the heritage of the garment is shrouded in myths and not a little creative storytelling. 

Contrary to common folklore that Aran sweaters contained special stitches to identify the wearer's family, Islanders never incorporated unique clan stitches into sweaters. The notion seems to have been adapted by canny marketers, from J M Synge's Riders To The Sea, where a woman recognises her drowned brother by the four dropped stitches in his knitted socks. However, the story has now been repeated so often that it has entered common culture as fact.  According to these stories, the blackberry stitch represents nature, the honeycomb, is a lucky stitch, symbolising plenty, the lattice stitch is inspired by wicker baskets and the ladder of life stitch symbolises the stages of life. 

Not only is there no evidence that our ancestors knitted special 'clan stitches', the Aran sweaters' tradition is relatively new. If it has been handed down the generations, it has been only two or three generations because, 100 years ago, it is unlikely you would have encountered Islanders wearing what we recognise as Aran sweaters. In the 1890s, knitting was being encouraged on the islands by the Congested Districts Board. This body had been established to encourage economic growth in rural areas where the population had outgrown the productive capacity of the land. Fishermen from other parts of the British Isles, who travelled to the Aran islands to instruct on better fishing methods, were accompanied by their wives. The Guernsey jumpers worn by these men were the inspiration for our Aran sweaters – the islanders copied them from the British women, but with their typical decorative stitching all over and in heavier coarser Irish yarns that were unscoured and therefore water resistant. The Irish word Geansai, is a bastardisation of Guernsey, the name given to the English fishermen’s knits.    

Uncorroborated accounts suggest that early Aran sweaters were first worn by boys taking their First Holy Communion in the 1920s. Others suggest men's sweaters were knitted by young women for their sweethearts as evidence of their suitability as future wives. It was to be some years before decorative Aran knitting patterns became the symbol of the islands. When the film Man of Aran drew the world's attention to the islands in 1934, Irish knitwear of this style was not featured at all.

Traditional Aran knits.

 However, by 1935 the first Aran sweaters went on sale in The Country Shop in Dublin. The store had been founded by Dr Muriel Gahan, the founder of the Irish Homespun Society and a committed supporter of rural crafts.  One of the first marketing brochures created by to promote the knits, was designed and illustrated by Irish artist, Sean Keating.  In the 1940s the first Aran knitting patterns were published by Patons of England, and demand (and exports) grew significantly after Vogue published patterns for men's and women's Aran sweaters in 1956. Companies began supplying the island with Irish wool, and gradually built up a network all over western Ireland of knitters producing a variety of Aran garments. Standun’s in Spiddal, was the first business to export Aran knits to the US employing up to 700 knitters across Ireland, while later Carraig Donn set up a shop selling hand-knitted Aran sweaters on Inishmore in the 1970s. The store remains a familiar landmark, although the Aran knitwear industry has developed beyond recognition in the last 50 years. 

Today Aran sweaters are made all over the world from mass produced versions in China which are sold on QVC, to luxury versions that have featured in designer collections from Ralph Lauren, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Rocha.  The great pity is, that the many of these garments are made outside Ireland as the number of knitwear companies manufacturing domestically has declined with the advent of new industries.  The machine knitted sweaters have less complex stitches, are executed in finer yarns and may be less enduring than the hand-crafted knits. 

The Aran sweater has inspired a great tradition of knitwear design in Ireland - now a new generation of companies such as, Tarlach de Blácam's Inis Meáin Knitting Company  (founded on the island in 1976 )  Fisherman out of Ireland and Ireland's Eye are giving the traditional knits a new twist, while designers such as Lainey Keogh, Sphere One, Lucy Nagle and Elaine Madigan continue to draw on the colours of the Irish landscape to evolve knitwear that is contemporary yet classic. It's a long way from Currach's to cashmere, but it is a leap that Irish knitwear companies have made skilfully while evolving knits from utilitarian outerwear to luxurious fashion items. As a fusion of the two strands of Irish knitwear, this season Inis Meáin have collaborated with Sphere One to produce a contemporary Aran knit or fisherman’s sweater for the modern luxury market. 

While we may perceive the Aran as a traditional item that has little fashion impact, to dismiss it  in this style is premature. Arans were seriously cool in the counter culture era of the 1960s: after the Clancys and Tommy Makem adopted the Aran as their onstage attire on the Ed Sullivan show, the jumpers developed a large fan base stateside. Many celebrities sported an Aran sweater inspired by the burgeoning folk movement, including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Steve McQueen, Jean Seberg, Grace Kelly and Catherine Deneuve.  In more contemporary times the knit has been worn by stars of both sexes including Brad Pitt, Ewan McGregor and Robert Pattinson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker and Alexa Chung. 

There is something about the romanticism, hand-crafted detail and slouchy luxurious warmth of a natural wool Aran that appeals across genders, age and style tribes. With up to 100,000 stitches in an Aran which represents a unique fusion of tradition and craft, Arans are perfectly placed to appeal to consumers seeking an emotional relationship with their clothes rather than the impermanence of fleeting fashion trends. 

Sometimes it takes accolades from abroad to make us appreciate the innate qualities of a local treasure. When an institution as revered as MoMA declares that a piece has “had a strong impact on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries—and continues to hold currency today”, we should acknowledge and applaud the rich heritage of Aran knitwear. Iconic is one of the most over-used terms in modern parlance, but it seems totally fitting for the Irish Aran. Recently JW Anderson, Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane have all drawn on Aran heritage to revitalise the style - let’s hope that the MoMa exhibit will revive interest in the Aran tradition and lead to new incarnations by other designers into the future.  

​The Aran is both a style icon and a wardrobe staple and not many garments make that exclusive shortlist.  

Alexander McQueen Aran style knit. Image courtesy of German Vogue, 2013.