An Aran jumper from the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, at Turlough , Castlebar, is set to feature in a major new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, opening this autumn to explore 111 of the most iconic fashion garments and accessories over the last century.

The history and impact of the Aran jumper will be explored in Items: Is Fashion Modern?, alongside a host of well-known fashion designs such an example of the biker jacket from the 1950s; a Wonderbra; a Birkin bag; a 1960s Breton shirt; a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans from the 1940s; and a collection of Little Black Dresses.

Clodagh Doyle is the Curator at the National Folk Museum in Turlough and she is co-ordinating the loan of the jumper to the New York exhibition.

She told Midwest News today that the Aran jumper in question is a cream, knitted piece from 1942 and made from a heavy, scoured wool. The patterns are different front and back.

It was last exhibited in 2008 at the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life as part of the exhibition Romantic Stitches and Realistic Sketches.

Aran jumpers - or sweaters as they are known in America - have long been a highly recognisable symbol abroad of the romanticism of Irish rural life and Irish folk art. The jumpers became particularly popular from the 1950s onwards when they began to be exported in their thousands from Ireland to shops in America, Europe and Japan.

Welcoming the inclusion of the Aran sweater in Items: Is Fashion Modern?, Mr Tony Candon, Manager/Keeper of the National Museum of Ireland – CountryLife stated says they are pleased to be able to contribute to this exciting new exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

Is Fashion Modern opens on October 1 and continues until January 28, 2018, at the Museum of Modern Art, West 53 Street, New York.

Ireland’s National Folklife Collection and other early Aran knitwear can be viewed at the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, Turlough, Castlebar..