Abby Connolly
The Oscars are only a month away! Have you caught up on all of the nominated films? One of the most talked about movies of the season is Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, which takes place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland.
The film is heartbreaking in the way it surrounds the abrupt ending of a long friendship. It’s also being praised for its beautiful look, including the thoughtfully designed costumes by Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh, who has worked on a variety of Irish films.
The film takes place during the Irish Civil War, so dressing the actors according to the time period was very important to Eimer, who also worked with a lot of Irish fabrics for the costumes.
There are a few pieces that Eimer didn’t create herself, however, like the gorgeous knit sweaters in the film, which can be seen on lead actor Colin Farrell.
They were knit by the costume supervisor’s neighbor, Delia Barry. Delia is an Irish knitter in her 80s who is well known for handknitting sweaters for her family and the Irish Cancer Society.
Delia was approached by Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh, who showed her old photographs of Irish fishermen wearing knit sweaters from the civil war period and asked if she could recreate them.
Without even meeting the actors in person and only receiving an estimate as to what their measurements were, Delia quickly knit their sweaters, which suited the characters perfectly.
Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh did a bit of adjusting to the pieces to make them look more worn and authentic on screen, but all of the beautiful and complex knitting was thanks to Delia.
Famous Irish actor Brendon Gleeson loved his sweater so much that Delia still knits some for him and sends them to him.
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