Jazz singer Liv Monaghan scintillated in the 2023 Lisdoonvarna-Paris dress, at “Le Cirque”, Paris, where Irish fashion, music and Lisdoon festivity reigned.
Corkonian Liv Monaghan scintillated in the “2023 Lisdoonvarna-Paris” dress at a recent Mná na hÉireann, France event in “Le Cirque,” one of Paris’s hottest venues, located opposite the Centre Pompidou. The event organised by Patricia Killeen mirrored elements of the “Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival” throughout the evening’s festivities.
Killeen explained the origin of the Lisdoonvarna-Paris dress annual tradition, “On my first visit to Lisdoonvarna, I was having a drink outside the Matchmaker’s bar with matchmaker Willie Daly, and Julie Carr, PR for the Matchmaking Festival. When the angelus bells rang. I was amazed to see women spill out onto Lisdoonvarna’s main street in the most beautiful gúnaí (dresses). They quickly disappeared over a small bridge to the Lisdoonvarna Spa Wells ballroom for the “First Chance Dance”, which opens the festival at noon on the first Saturday of the Matchmaking Festival each year. That was the inspiration for the Lisdoonvarna-Paris dress, an annual dress linking Paris the capital of Love, with Lisdoonvarna, the town of Romance”.
The 2019 “Paris-Lisdoonvarna dress” was designed by Paris-based Korean fashion designer Kim Bernardin, and after a break for Covid, the 2022 dress was designed by Irish couture designer Sean Byrne (currently working for Yves Saint Laurent, Paris).
The multi-talented Liv Monaghan, jazz singer, songwriter and composer was the musical star at “Le Cirque.” Accompanied by Sava Medan on double bass, she turned the heads of Parisians climbing the stairs to another private event. They were bowled over, not only by her musical talent but also by her attire, which bore the hallmarks of French haute couture, with a vintage/musical fusion. Monaghan’s work as a costume designer has overlapped seamlessly into her work as a musician. Renowned for her meticulous selection of concert attire, for the drape and texture of the fabrics, certainly, but only in part. She believes “The most important thing is that the fabric sounds interesting so that I can get a beautiful percussive sound from it when I play my drum brushes against it!”
She also incorporates a wide range of elements, turning them into accessories or stitching them into her outfits, such as bells, whistles or hand-picked sea shells which she wraps in sumptuous silks to enhance the percussive aspects of her shows.
A significant portion of her creative work revolves around repurposing discarded items, often sourcing these vintage treasures at flea markets in Paris, and then skilfully reassembling them into new and innovative creations, which brings her immense personal satisfaction and enriches her musical canvas. Her black “Paris-Lisdoonvarna dress,” was a product of her own imagination, inspired in part by fellow costume designer Helen Cusack O’Keefe, who contributed to the bustle design which Liv went on to enhance with several useful percussive pieces that she improvised with throughout her performance.
In short – a costume drum set! The exquisite handmade earring crafted specifically for Monaghan by French designer Thibault Martin glistened. This unique piece was created as part of the artwork for her latest album, “Slow Exhale”. Crafted from gold paper, it showcases Martin’s expertise in haute couture embroidery. Martin himself is a freelance designer, primarily collaborating with Arturo Obegero, an emerging fashion designer who has dressed prominent artists like Beyonce and Róisín Murphy and also working with Maison Margiela and Lanvin.
Monaghan incorporated her own compositions with a selection of Irish songs and her rendition of “Spancil Hill”, originally written as a 19th-century love letter by County Clare emigrant Michael Considine to his love back in Ireland, was a poignant homage to Irish emigration over the centuries. There was an element of “Touching Infinity”, in the magical evening.
“The Mná Ceol Collective” group, like the Commitment-ettes trio, in Alain Parker’s 1991 film, were also elegantly dressed in black. The group composed of Emma Downes (violin), Gráinne Dunleavy (vocals, guitar) and Sandra Boeuf-Martyn (vocals, ukulele, banjo ukulele), emerged from the Mná singing sub-group. The trio originally hail from Limerick, Dublin and Galway respectively although their various paths led them to a life in Paris. Each of the girls fits the music group in around their busy lives however Emma is a classically trained and very talented violinist. “We all love to play the traditional Irish favourites but our set lists almost always include jazz and pop too,” Sandra reflected. “We will often have other musicians join us which allows us to include other instruments and fit around all of our schedules, the idea of “Collective” in the “Mná Ceol Collective”. The trio’s rendition of “Ireland’s Call” had even the restaurant manager and waiters raising their voices in song. Since the South Africa vs. Ireland rugby match, on 23 September, Parisians, who have fond memories of the Euro 2016 Irish football supporters, were once again enchanted by Ireland’s rugby supporters and the festive element their singing, serenading and craic, brings to the City of Light.
The special guest speaker for the event, Maria Doyle-Cuche came 6th in the Eurovision in 1985 under the name ‘Maria Christian’. She was a semi-finalist in “The 2020 Voice France”, and during each episode, she shone because of her incredible singing talent, and inspirational personality, but she also did Ireland proud with her fabulous fashion flair and style. She was Sean Byrne’s muse and model for the 2022 Lisdoonvarna-Paris dress dress.
Just back from starring in a documentary film in Bordeaux, Doyle-Cuche was attired in a peach-coloured Grecian creation. She spoke about her inspirational life, “when I was young I loved looking at the stars. However I was struck blind at nine, and now that I can no longer see the stars in the sky, the light of my fellow Mná living in France, the warmth of their friendship and talents are precious, in a way they have become my shining stars”.
Honoring an old Lisdoonvarna tradition, during the fun evening, Charlotte Forbes and Peter O’Fries were crowned Queen of the Burren and the King of Lisdoonvarna, on Parisian ground. Charlotte hails from Donegal, plays the drums, speaks four languages and teaches English in Paris. Peter, hails from Australia, and among multiple professional accomplishments, he was the inventor of Australia’s first-ever ecological house.
Killeen concluded, “I have hosted three annual Lisdoonvarna link-up events in Paris, but next year, we’ll be “off to Lisdoonvarna” to showcase the 2024 dress. I was delighted to discover “Violvetine” last year in Lisdoonvarna, an innovative, two-piece band comprised of County Clare musician Quentin Cooper (guitar, vocals) and Séverine Pigot (viola, vocals) at the Roadside Tavern. Séverine originally hails from Paris; Quentin’s dad is Irish and his Mum is from Peru. A winning, eclectic musical combination nurturing the Lisdoonvarna “French connection!”
Nothing stops the music at the Roadside Tavern, where hail, rain or snow, the manager Peter Jackson manager puts on music seven nights a week, all year round. The back of the establishment has a space with a stage that can hold up to 350 people. Christy Moore, Davy Spillane, the Fureys, Sharon Shannon and many more entertained people at this legendry venue that like the lovely town of Lisdoonvarna, always lives up to the “céad míle fáilte” sign, on its front door.