Blonde ambition

Fans of Fair Verona will have been relieved that the name change to The Blonde Majority required no alteration in the trio’s dress sense or band image. As Aoife Cleary reassures me, “We’re still the same in that sense. We always dressed pretty well and we’ve never been slobs.”
Cleary describes her own style of dress as mixed. “I like a lot of vintage stuff, provided it’s not from the ’50s. I hate all the prom dress stuff from that period and I really hope it never comes back into fashion. I like stuff from the ’60s and early ’70s, and love cowboy boots, and clothes that are slightly bohemian. I enjoy dressing up anyway and sometimes I like that mad bag-lady hair look, heavy eye make-up and so on.”
She confesses that clothes are rather high on her agenda. “I’m not exactly a dedicated follower of high street fashion, but I’m conscious that what I wear makes me feel good and I like rooting around in my wardrobe for something that matches my mood. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl, but I love dressing up and I’m not really one for loafing around the place wearing just any old things. I always put a bit of thought into what I’m wearing no matter where I am and even if I’m on my own. I think I look best in white or black or cream – separately that is, not all at the same time!”
Do The Blonde Majority put a lot of thought into their look before they play a gig or head off for a photo shoot? “Not really. We don’t think in terms of having a band look. We’re not a girl band! But we would all probably make a little extra effort for those kind of occasions, just like we might make the same kind of effort dressing up to go out on a Tuesday night, but nothing more than that.”
Of course she has her favourite shops. “I tend to go to places like French Connection, Urban Outfitters, Sabotage, Top Shop and Faith, which I like for shoes. But I don’t really go for any labels as such. Some of them are probably out of my price range anyway, but I like the skinny jeans I got from Numph, for example. Then again I have a top I wear which I got from Penneys, so I’m not bothered if something is cheap or high priced as long as I like it and can afford it.”
Do the other girls in the band act as any kind of controlling chaperones when she goes shopping? “No, we each generally buy what we like. But I have this habit of texting Karla or Lucy after I’ve bought something really special and telling them about ‘the rush’ which is code we use for having gone and bought something really good.”
Aoife admits she has a particular fondness for leggings but is also attracted by jackets, especially those of the military kind. “I love the cut of military jackets for a start, but there’s also so much detail on them, with the buttons and the wrist work and so on. Guys like Julian Casablancas in The Strokes wear those kind of jackets really well.”
Other people she admires for their style sense include Keith Richards, The Kills and Stones’ insider Anita Pallenberg. “In fact,” she says, “I like the way the Stones look in a general sense, not too casual but not too dressed up either”.
As for great fashion disasters in her past, Aoife’s a bit coy about owning up on that front, but does recall that she once purchased a trench coat which she wore once and never again afterwards. Actually, disposing of her unwanted clothes poses Aoife a bit of a problem. “All my sisters are older than me, so my old clothes can’t go there. I suppose I should give them to charity but usually they just end up in the bin.”

For more info on The Blonde Majority, see www.myspace.com/theblondemajority

Photos by Dave Cullen.