A MAGHERAROARTY student will feature in tonight’s first episode of a new four-part series on sustainable fashion. Mollaí Ní Mhiacháin was the first lover and regular buyer of fashion filmed by Letterkenny presenter Caoimhe Ní Chathail and Proinsias Ó Coinn for their new series Éadaí SOS. They are “on a mission to get us thinking differently about our wardrobes” and the millions of tonnes of clothing that are burned or dumped in landfill every year.
Speaking to the Donegal News in advance of tonight’s broadcast Mollaí explained how it all came about and what she learned from the experience.
“They reached out to me as I do a blog on fashion and was I interested in doing something more sustainable. I was happy to give it a go. They came to my house and took all of my clothes away except for ten items I chose to wear for the duration. I chose white jeans and crop tops and they were asking was I sure these were the items I wanted to wear for two weeks. I was also banned from shopping for those two weeks. I ended up wearing the same things over and over again. The white jeans and leggings. A dress I kept I never wore at all.
“Making the programme changed my attitude towards fashion and I am much more conscious now of what I buy. As a student who spends around 80 per cent of my income on fashion I would have been buying stuff from websites that are cheaper. Now I think first before buying, will I actually wear it, so I am buying less,” Mollaí said.
She thoroughly enjoyed making the programme having seen so few people during lockdown. The BBC crew came to her home in Magheraroarty and then she travelled to the studios in Belfast. There will be some great shots of Magheraroarty in the programme as Mollaí’s home is beside the sea.
“My family thought I was crazy. The crew filmed outside because of Covid-19 and my mum Caroline and sister Annie watched from inside. I learned from it how little we actually need and we don’t need all of the stuff we think we cannot live without. I was a hoarder, keeping stuff for years that might not even fit any more. I realised if I went that long without wearing something I sold it online or gave it to a charity shop,” she added.
When not blogging 20 year-old Mollaí is doing a degree in Education through Irish at Marino College in Dublin.
Éadaí SOS is a four-part series made by Waddell Media with funding from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund. Across the four episodes, shopping-obsessed fashionistas are challenged to alter their habits and embrace more eco-friendly ways of indulging their passion for the latest trends.
Each week, Caoimhe visits a lover of fast fashion, takes everything in their wardrobe away in a van – bar 10 items of clothing – and imposes a shopping ban for two weeks.
While Proinsias carries out an audit revealing just how little each person knows about their own clothes (and how many items they have) and how infrequently they wear a lot of outfits, over the course of the fortnight, Caoimhe sets about showing the shopaholics ways they can change their habits, re-purpose and recycle items and embrace sustainable fashion without sacrificing individual style.
Éadaí SOS begins tonight at 10pm on BBC Two Northern Ireland.
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