In a quiet home in County Monaghan, lace is made the old-fashioned way: by hand, in careful stitches, often at a kitchen table or beside a sitting-room window. That patient work has now taken centre stage in lifestyle Ireland, with a monumental Carrickmacross lace gown created for Clare designer Michael Stewart’s haute couture debut in Paris.
The dress, worn by American model Kristen McMenamy, required more than 4,300 hours of work over six months. It is both a striking fashion statement and a tribute to the Irish craft tradition, showing how an historic skill can feel modern, relevant and genuinely luxurious.
The Carrickmacross lace gown redefining Irish fashion lifestyle
The gown was designed as the finale of Stewart’s Standing Ground collection, presented at the Irish Embassy in Paris in July 2026. Its scale alone makes it remarkable: the hem measures approximately 13 metres around, excluding the train and godet.
Stewart’s hand-drawn motifs include brambles, blackberries and dragonflies, inspired by the Burren landscape. These natural details give the dress a distinctly Irish character while avoiding a purely historical look. The result is ethereal but contemporary, delicate but ambitious.
For Stewart, the project was also about recognising the women whose skill brought the design to life. Lacemakers in County Monaghan worked from their own homes, joining individual sections and building the finished garment through painstaking handwork. The seams themselves were assembled using overlapping lace techniques, giving the construction an innovative quality as well as preserving tradition.
Natalie B Coleman, the Carrickmacross designer and educator, played a central role. She had long promoted the craft, including through fashion collections that brought Carrickmacross lace to international audiences. Her relationship with Stewart began during his studies and developed into a year-long collaboration before the lacemakers began making the gown.
A craft shaped by Monaghan history
Carrickmacross lace is generally traced to County Monaghan in the early 19th century, after local examples of Italian lace were introduced to the area. Following the Famine, lace schools helped provide income for rural families, while the St Louis nuns later supported the craft through their school in Carrickmacross.
When that school closed in 1988, the local co-operative continued the work and established the Carrickmacross Lace Gallery. Today, the gallery functions as a shop, museum and workshop, displaying everything from wedding veils and christening gowns to ecclesiastical pieces and historic lace.
The story matters because Carrickmacross lace was created as a source of income for women who often had few opportunities to earn independently. Its survival has depended on generations of makers, teachers and students who kept the technique in use rather than allowing it to become a museum curiosity.
Lifestyle Ireland and the value of slow, skilled fashion
The gown arrives at an interesting moment for Irish fashion lifestyle. Machine-made lace is appearing across luxury catwalks and high-street collections, yet handmade lace offers something that technology cannot easily reproduce: variation, touch and visible evidence of the person who made it.
For the lacemakers involved, the work is demanding but deeply absorbing. Ann McMahon, who began learning from the nuns at 14, continues to sew for much of each day and also teaches beginners. Bríd Deery describes lace as a hobby that became an obsession, fitting the work around family responsibilities and household life.
Teresa Kelly approaches lace as both a precise discipline and a creative practice. She describes its boundaries as an invitation to experiment, while Martha Hughes emphasises the importance of detail, balance and finish. Small elements such as loops, filling stitches, thorns, buttonhole circles and stars give Carrickmacross its recognisable character.
That concentration also explains why handmade craft often features in wider conversations about wellness Ireland and Ireland wellbeing. The makers are not presenting lacemaking as a medical treatment, but they describe the focus, rhythm and sense of purpose it brings. For Hughes, who has experienced cancer twice, the craft has offered emotional and spiritual consolation as she rebuilt her concentration and confidence.
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The dress was completed under intense pressure. During the final stage, Kelly and Hughes worked from morning through the night, while the rest of the team continued until the early hours. Once finished, the gown travelled simply and unexpectedly, carried to London in an ordinary plastic bag rather than a grand fashion case.
That detail captures something essential about the project. Its value does not come only from the finished spectacle. It also lies in the hours, the shared effort and the knowledge passed between people. Stewart’s design may have begun with his vision, but the completed dress became a record of many hands.
Where to see the Carrickmacross lace dress
The dress will be displayed at Collins Barracks in Dublin from November 10th for eight weeks. The exhibition will also include the draped and beaded dress that earned Stewart the LVMH Savoir-Faire Prize in 2024.
For visitors, the display offers more than a beautiful garment. It is an opportunity to see Irish heritage skills in a fresh context and to understand the patience behind modern haute couture. It also raises a useful question for healthy living Ireland: what might we gain from making space for slower, more focused activities in an otherwise hurried routine?
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Frequently asked questions
How long did the Carrickmacross lace dress take to make?
The dress took six months to complete and required more than 4,300 hours of handwork.
Where did Carrickmacross lace originate?
The craft is associated with County Monaghan and is believed to have developed there around 1820, influenced by Italian lace samples.
When can the public see the dress?
The gown opens to visitors at Collins Barracks in Dublin on November 10th, 2026, and will remain on display for eight weeks.
A lasting lesson from lifestyle Ireland
This Carrickmacross creation shows that lifestyle Ireland is not only about new trends. It is also about the people preserving knowledge, adapting heritage and finding pride in work that cannot be rushed. The dress is exquisite because of its design, but unforgettable because of the thousands of patient hours and the collective skill stitched into every section.
The clear takeaway is simple: Irish craft remains powerful when tradition is trusted to evolve. In this gown, the hands of Monaghan’s lacemakers have turned an old technique into a bold expression of contemporary fashion.