I was searching some city university archives and found the following photos. Most are from the Midwest of the United States, but since we tend to follow what is done in Europe (with a few twists and embellishments), I believe these photos are accurate for styles there,too. Enjoy. Be inspired. In some cases, be relieved we aren't doing all these styles now.

The picture in the headline is ca. 1929. This is a pair of Irish dancers from Ohio.

The picture featured here is ca. 1927! For those of you who are waiting for your SR, GD, or ED puff ball dresses, all I can say is what was old is new again. This photo features the Mastersons and McCaffertys, both families are still involved in Irish dance.

For those of us making more vests, and laced corsets, we can clearly claim historical accuracy. Just look at the soft skirt and bodice on the dancer in this ca. 1939 photo.

I'm not sure we'd have many male dancers left if we tried to get them into this hat and those high heels. Note: his heels are higher than hers!

By 1957, boys are out of high heels and cut-aways and in kilts and jackets. I love the girl's jacket and knotwork design on the skirt.

The dresses these ladies are wearing aren't too different from the adult dresses of today. This photo is ca. 1960. That style of jacket looks good on adults as well as the little girl in the 1957 picture.

This is a 1961 photo of Irish dance champs Dennis Shannahan and ?Neforos (sorry about the first name). Both styles held (with a few changes) until the 1990s and the impact of Riverdance hit Irish dance. My daughter's school dress from 1996 looks very much as this one.

These sisters were photographed in 1962. Note the heavy weight stockings, much like those the Commission wanted O18 dancers to wear. Nice Irish lace collar, too.

These dancers are from the McCoy School in Ireland on a visit to the US in 1962. The woman's dress is much like the dresses from the 1960 photo.

The men are still in jackets and kilts, a trend that will continue until the decade of the 90s, when they'll switch to slacks and a softer shirt. The jury is split on whether that was a good thing or a bad.

In 1980, the dancers of the Masterson school made a bold statement with the finished edges on their shawls. Hard shoes are beginning to take on the form and shape we're familiar with today.

The footwear in this 1981 photo caught my eye more than any radical dancewear style changes. The ghillies we are accustomed to seeing today are in evidence. One dancer has on hard/jig shoes no different than many dancers wear now. The shoes on the boy in front appear to be pumps with a bow not the jazz shoes favored today.

Sock glue, anyone?

Ca. 1990, this four panel dress originally featured chain-stitched knotwork, Irish lace collar, and velvet sleeves with "pirate captain" cuffs. The photo you see here (ca. 2000) shows the impact of changing trends. The collar has been replaced by a gold lame jewel neckline and the sleeves are lame with a red lace overlay. The cuffs were salvaged from the original. Both a fabric crown and a headband were worn, as was the fashion. The 2000 updating also included adding crystals, which were just becoming requisite on dance dresses.

Chain stitch knotwork gave way to hand-done satin stitch knotwork then to machine satin stitched knotwork then to digitized satin stitched embroidery, but by 2003, applique became the rage. To better display the embroidery and applique, skirts became stiffer and the three panel dress became the standard. This dress also featured a mandarin collar, which was very popular in the early 2000s.

I have tried to give a brief overview of Irish dance dress trends. You are invited and encouraged to suppliment this history and correct any errors you see.

Current DMs are part of a long history of tradition and innovation as they make wearable works of art. We all deserve to take a bow.

Wow! That is all very interesting history. Thanks for posting. Very informative.

Wow! Thanks for taking the time to do all that. It was very interesting to look at the pictures thru those years. I also noted that everyone was wearing "normal" hairstyles for their period. Karma to you!

Thank you so much, this can even give inspiration for new dresses!!!! Must have kept you busy for some time.

I always find those old photos fascinating. What I noticed about these ones in particular was that even as late as 1980/81, hair was still worn in whatever style the dancer had, and the socks were white ankle socks, not poodle socks. When I started dance in 1990, both poodle socks and curled hair were firmly entrenched.

Do any dancers from the '80s on this board know when poodle socks and curled hair were first introduced, and why they caught on? Why would a dancer decide to go through the trouble of sleeping on painful curlers, when straight hair was, up until then, perfectly acceptable? And who the heck ever thought up the "bubbles" on a poodle sock?

I'd like to piggy back on that question for DMs and dancers active in the 80s. What year was the comment added to feis syllabi about traditional dresses and curled hair being preferred. I'll bet the hair statement happened in the late 80s or early 90s.

By the way, I love the "spit curls" on the dancer in the very first picture. I'm not sure what the hat is about. Does anyone else know?

When did the guys lose the shawl? (or maybe that really ought to be aquire the shawl?) Was it only appropriate with a kilt? What about with knickers?

good post!

i can also offer these newspaper clippings from the 70s and 80s in the uk and ireland, as i posted in 2006. dancing teachers and world champions featured:
www.dance.net . . .

Your photos confirm styles in the 1970s were very much the same in the US and Europe. I noticed the knotwork on Sheila Hayes's dress was especially pretty. Preview of things to come, perhaps.

As to boys' shawls, I haven't seen boys wear them since the shift to slacks in the 1990s. Back when boys wore kilts, they wore either a jacket (especially more advanced dancers) or vest. I don't remember ever seeing a shawl on a boy wearing a vest, only over jackets. Perhaps since most males now wear a shirt or shirt and vest, the shawl isn't worn.

During the years of WWII, there weren't many pictures of dancers to be found (1940s). Knickers on males were popular before the war, but not afterward. This probably reflected the change in tastes of men after they had been abroad, but that is only my hypothesis, I have no hard information to back it.

Has anyone noticed that some of the dresses in the 70s were...mmm....quite short?? (In Bec's thread)

And people complain about today's dress lengths......;)

Clare x

More information on boy's shawls. Known as brats (brauts), wearing of men's shawls originated in ancient Ireland. They were folded and arranged by their wearers for protection against Ireland's unpredictable weather. By the 18th and 19th century, women adopted the use of brats out of practicality. Their use as part of a dance costume began in the 20th century.

Wow, this was such an interesting post! How did you manage to find all those pictures?

Has anyone noticed that some of the dresses in the 70s were...mmm....quite short?? (In Bec's thread)

My dance teachers, mid 70s with the McDade School:


More of the same decade:



No knees visible but look where her hands fall!



And they didn't try to get them to wear tights.

All photographs from the McDade School.