Never let it be said that The Radio’s Stephen Murray isn’t an accomplished and highly talented musician, but it’s fair to say that with the departure of Annie Tierney from the fold last year, the more sartorially savvy faction of the band had flown the coop. With such a style void to fill, enter one Caroline Lee Baker… a pouty vision in peroxide and perfectly-honed sass.
As anyone who has seen The Radio’s video for ‘Whatever Gets You Through Today’ can attest, Caroline has her own inimitable sense of style. According to the girl herself, she is much more at home in jeans and runners while off-duty.
“My personal style would be mainly casual during the day – I’m a bit of a tomboy at heart – but I like to dress up when I need to go out,” explains Caroline. “At night, I guess I’d be a bit more vintage-y. I like a bit of everything when I go shopping, although I must admit I’m very into my runners. Runners are my absolute weakness… I have about 15 or 20 pairs. I don’t really wear heels, although they look great on other people.”
Come the day of a gig, Caroline has one less thing to worry about, as the band has decided to opt for a more ‘ensemble’ look for the stage.
“With The Radio, we tend to wear a uniform of black onstage,” she notes. “It’s not a huge statement or anything – just black leggings and a tight black polo neck. Having this sort of ‘uniform’ makes life easier before a gig but I’d like to wear a girly dress for a change!”
Nonetheless, Caroline has made the slog of nationwide touring work to her advantage, and has come to find the boutiques of small-town Ireland to be an unlikely fashion hotspot.
“I love going down the country and going into those cheap local stores and buying stuff,” she reveals. “I’ve found great stuff in places like Newbridge, Kilkenny and Cork. When I go gigging in these places I have to have a look at the tacky shops – once I got a great stripy jumper for a euro.
“Shopping is easy for me size-wise, but I’m pretty short, about 5 foot 3 or 4,” she continues. “I’m able to buy kids’ stuff, and the kids’ T-shirts in H&M are amazing. H&M is particularly brilliant since they came here to Dublin. About time too! Because I’m a poor musician, I’d only spend about €60 a month on clothes.”
Not surprisingly, Caroline has taken a leaf out of her icon’s book with her favourite look – a maroon, vintage-style dress that needs little in the way of glitzy accoutrements.
“My style hero would be Twiggy, although I wouldn’t dress like her every day,” she confides. “I like the cleanliness of the A-lines she wears. I think this dress makes me look smaller and sort of cute. I feel like a little girl in it. This is my attempt to be girly!”
Ever the hoarder, Caroline bought this dress from vintage emporium Wild Child several years ago.
“I got this many years ago when I was in college, for about 20 quid,” she says. “It’s a brilliant shop but the thing is you have to be prepared to hunt. I went to college in Wales, so I would come home to Dublin and go straight to Wild Child. I tried this dress on and it was a perfect fit. When something vintage fits so well, I always think that someone with the exact same body type as me was walking about in the 60s!
“I get great wear out of it. I took it to New York when The Radio did CMJ,” she adds. “It went down well there, considering that you have to be the height of fashion to get any kind of attention in New York!”
According to Caroline, the perfect accompaniment to this dress is her pair of beloved snow boots, which again she procured several years ago.
“I got these in a surf shop in Wales…I don’t normally shop in surf shops or anything but I was going out with a surfer at the time and ended up in those shops quite a lot.” she laughs. “I got them reduced from £90 to something like £50. They are the comfiest things ever and I’ve had them for years. They’re like suede wellies. I wear them with jeans, dresses, with everything!”
“I’m not sure about the idea of wearing heels with this dress, even though I know I should,” she says wistfully. “When I think of heels I think of dressing up to look like my mum. One day when I grow up, I’ll have a pair of heels, and maybe a proper handbag…”