Sometimes, what we wear can say a lot about who we are. It can say a lot about where we live, what we do during the day and how the society around us shapes our days.

A dress can draw a picture of an individual, even 400 years after their lives.

The Shinrone Bog Dress is exactly that, it takes us back to the late 16th to early 17th century, to the life of a young, possibly lower-class woman who was pregnant at the time.

The dress was discovered in a bog near Cangort, Shinrone, County Offaly, in the spring of 1843, and it now resides in the National Museum of Ireland - but Dublin is not the only place to see it. A faithful copy of the dress can be found in Shinrone, whenever it is not touring the country for special exhibitions and events.

Craftswomen Bernadette Stapleton and Rosalind Fanning came together in 2024, commissioned by the Shinrone Heritage group, to recreate the dress armed with the clear idea of the importance of the item to engage the community and connect to its past.

Bernadette and Rosalind recall the tedious process of examining the original dress pattern and discovering its peculiarity and explain looking for the perfect thread, the right fabric and with that, the courage to ultimately cut it into the pattern.

During the process, Bernie and Rosalind develop almost a personal connection with the woman who used to wear the dress. Through the clothes, they explained, they could imagine her life clearly and would imagine that she lived a life beyond the few explanations from historians, who described her as a lower-class woman, because of the length of her skirt. “We can feel her and see her. This is an elegant woman.”

In fact, the bond that was created with the women who wore the dress went beyond simple tailoring.

The two women describe the importance of a practical dress at the time, highlighting the genius behind the design of the bust, created to accommodate a growing pregnant belly. On the sides of the bodice, three darts allowed women at the time to make it more spacious according to their stomach size during pregnancy. Simply unstitching the darts would unfold the carefully folded fabric, creating a multifunctional design.

It is Bernie who appreciates the sustainable fashion behind the design and explains: “You just didn't pop out and buy a new dress. This woman was going to be pregnant and then not pregnant and pregnant again, and this dress would have been worn and worn and worn. It makes you realise the waste of materials that we have today”.

It’s like this that the recreation was brought to life, with carefully researched fabric, lots of care and a special focus towards the town community. When asked what the best part of the project was, the answer for Bernadette and Rosalind was quite simple: “It's in Shinrone, which is the best part.”