Human Behaviour

Fashion shouldn’t be taken too seriously, says Áine Mangaoang, singer with Cork pop outfit Hooray For Humans. Having fun with clothes is what it’s all about, and style just means wearing what makes you happy, which in Áine's case is anything unique, colourful and girly.

“I’m as girly as they come,” she laughs, “I have three sisters and no brothers, so it’s always been a very feminine house. My style is just bright colours, and I love dressing up. Any excuse to dress up and wear skirts or dresses.”
Being a fan of all things girly means Áine doesn’t have to go all out for gigs, seeing as she’ll usually be fancied-up anyway. “To be honest, for gigs I wear maybe just a slightly prettier version of what I’d be wearing during the day. I’d make more of an effort obviously but not specifically just because I’m on stage.”
Áine’s dad is Filipino, making her ‘Celtic-Asian’ – so she’s not exactly your average Cork girl. “I don’t know if that influences my style,” she says, “I would look very different to most Irish people so I suppose people think that I can get away with brighter colours and stuff. It’s just good fun.”
And good fun is definitely her attitude to fashion. “Clothes are one of those unfortunate things that we have to do every day, so you might as well have fun with it and enjoy it.”
So what makes up Áine’s wardrobe? “Bright accessories, hair clips and big beads – things like that. And belts! I’m a big fan of belts – lots of various belts, and colourful shoes.”
She describes herself as “a big dress/skirt girl,” and says Cork’s Store on French Church Street is her favourite shop, mainly for its great selection of dresses. Besides Store, Áine likes Urban Outfitters, as well as vintage and second-hand shops.
“There’s not a huge selection in Cork unfortunately. So I love when I’m on holidays or doing gigs in other strange places just checking out whatever they have going on, markets and stuff to see what I can pick up and mix and match.”
A mix of expensive, budget and borrowed items make up Áine’s outfits, as she admits she unashamedly borrows from her flatmate: “I’m big for the sharing, definitely. My flatmate is great ‘cos we’re best friends since we were really young, and we’re the same size. So we just swap all our clothes. It’s handy,” she laughs, “whenever I’m stuck I can run into her room!”
Working in clothes shops over the years, she’s also picked up a few things. But being a student for the last four years means big purchases are a no-no.
“There’s no big spending on clothes for me. I might splash out on one expensive thing every now and again but then I’ll usually put that with something from Penneys.”
She might love clothes, but Áine’s not really a follower of fashion. She admires the innovative stylings of Gwen Stefani and Bjork, but adds that she wouldn’t necessarily want to dress like them.
The thing she likes about fashion, she says, is the ability it gives you “to be unique, have fun and enjoy being a girl.
“I’m all for just trying to put lots of different styles together to make it your own and hopefully come up with a one-off creative outfit that no-one else will have.”