It isn’t every day a film about tortured friendships and existential despair—set on a remote, storm-lashed 1920s Irish island—also sparks a menswear frenzy. Yet that’s exactly what happened when Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin hit screens in 2022: Audiences were as invested in Colin Farrell’s sweaters as they were in his emotional undoing. (Even the winsome presence of Jenny the Donkey struggled to upstage those pullovers.)
I certainly wasn’t immune, becoming so distracted by Farrell’s collared red knit and chunky waffle stitches that I ended up writing my own ode to them, titled (in hindsight, a little dramatically) “Bury Me in a Banshees of Inisherin Knit.” The film’s humble woolens became a genuine online phenomenon, prompting TikTok tutorials, a New York Times interview with the 83-year-old County Wicklow great-grandmother who knitted them, and a global run on authentic Aran knits—a whirlwind that costume designer Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh watched with bemused delight.
“It was kind of fun!” Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh laughs, speaking over Zoom from her home just outside Dublin. “It was just a little moment, and I enjoyed it while it was there.” She isn’t one to dwell on past triumphs, it turns out. “I have a few of the jumpers in my drawer, but that’s kind of it,” she says. “It’s much more about: What’s new and interesting? You have to forget about the jumpers for the moment. Even though I love them!”
Indeed, when McDonagh called Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh back for his latest venture, Wild Horse Nine, they didn’t even discuss sweater-gate. Having already developed a creative shorthand while filming out on Inishmore—and working on a tight preproduction schedule—the pair dove straight into their new project. “Things often fall into place last-minute on productions like this, so there’s always a crazy scramble,” Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh says. “But having worked together previously, you can move much faster in prep. You just hope the director trusts you a bit more.”
Some of the film’s costumes in London, packed up and ready to be shipped to Chile for filming.
Photo: Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh
