%0 Object %T Clare Kennedy wearing Celtic Revival costume. %A N/A %I National Museum of Ireland %X This photograph shows Claire Kennedy in a Celtic Revival costume made and worn in the 1920s. The full costume is composed of full length dress, sash-belt, veil, head-band and 'brat' or mantle. Clare Kennedy was married to the Attorney General, Hugh Kennedy, a senior official in the newly formed Irish Free State, when she attended the (pan) Celtic Congress in Bangor, Wales, in 1927. Irish costumes like this were worn as a statement of patriotism and Irish identity and had become one of the visual symbols of the struggle for independence prior to the foundation of the State. The interlaced design and animal motifs are typical of the Celtic Revival and were inspired by those in the Book of Kells and other ancient Irish manuscripts. The costume was designed and made by the Dun Emer Guild in Dublin, one of the more distinguished of the artistic craft industries operating in Ireland during the early twentieth century. The Celtic Revival started in the mid-nineteenth century and was a literary and artistic movement that contributed to a clear sense of an Irish identity. This was influenced by the growing activities of archaeologists and antiquarians that supported a discrete national history and culture for Ireland.; This photograph was taken circa 1927.; Dress has long been a badge of identity. This Celtic Revival costume was worn by a significant society figure in the emerging Free State of the 1920s and reflected a clear sense of cultural identity for her. “Irish costume”, which had been championed by the Gaelic League and Cumman na mBhan, was based on a romanticised idea of ancient Irish dress, inspired by ancient manuscripts and folk tales, and it was intended to represent a notional “Irish Golden Age”. %9 Image; Black & white photographs; Portraits; Portrait photographs %W Digital Repository of Ireland