I think we’re all in agreement that our own fashion sense is greatly influenced by those we look up to in our lives. So, in the world of the GAA, who is more influential than our glorious RTÉ panel?
Yes, messrs Spillane, O’Rourke and Brolly have been true custodians of great taste for many a year now, treading the clothing frontier and alerting us to the latest trends before they’ve even happened.
1995: The suits were big and the glasses were bigger
Back in the 1990s it was all about multicoloured ties and fluorescent shirts. Also worth noting the lads’ glasses; some say CR7 2013 bases his look on Pat&Colm 1995.
2000: It was all about the beige
The shirts weren’t as bright but the lads decided to experiment with stand-out-from-the-crowd suits. Pat Spillane goes for the more traditional tie while O’Rourke flirts with a skinny one.
2001: Enter the Brolly
Joe Brolly joined the lads and things changed ... changed utterly. The rebellious upstart abandoned the constraints of the tie and went all in with a patterned shirt. No big glasses for him either.
Away from the studio
We took to the mean streets of the internet to find out what the lads are like away from the television cameras. Are they guys who like to just dress up for the occasion or can they rock the smart-caj look?...
It turns out Colm O’Rourke actually started the tuck your tracksuit into your socks trend that you now see on daily basis in our nation’s inner cities.
Pat loves his suits and even off camera he still likes to rock one. His style here, he tells us, was inspired by Dustin’s 40 shades of green song.
Brolly is much more simple when away from the television. Here he is with Michael Lyster, launching their new sportswear clothing range in the early 2000s.
Present day
‘Dapper’ would be the word best used to describe the fellers today. The suits are fitted, the shirts understated and glasses hip enough to look fashionable but so hip that they grab attention.
Colm has of course decided that glasses have had their day and with those eyes, who are we to argue?
We couldn’t let it go without mentioning this
Flash back to last year and Pat showed us he’s not afraid to mix’n’match two eras. Here he dons a teenies suit mixed with a tie straight out of the 1994 autumn collection.
We can't promise they'll have that Spillane tie in stock but check out jacamo.ie if you want to look as fashionable as these three divils.