The kind of woolly mammoth that you can style with ease...

WHEN THE HAZY HUMID DAYS OF SUMMER turn into dark cold evenings, you can always trust an Irish mammy to help the situation. ‘Take a warm cardigan,’ my mother ordered when I told her I was going west to spend the weekend at our holiday home in Rosses Point, an old windswept cottage on the beach.

Like most Irish parents, mine have a massive aversion to turning on the heat. Of course this isn’t entirely a bad thing – it’s ‘good for the bones’, my dad says. It also makes for a rather impressive cardigan collection which, worn correctly – well, with three layers – can and will make the coldest of coastal nights a lot more bearable.

I know this because I survived two nights with an empty oil tank in Sligo – and lived to tell the tale.

My grá for a big, oversized woolly Aran cardigan has been ingrained since I was a child, when my mother carried one for all five daughters everywhere – ‘just in case’. But its origin harks back to the early 20th century on the Aran Islands, where the famous sweater was born and fell into the arms of fishermen who wore the jumper religiously for decades. Now the iconic zig-zag stitch, crafted in Galway, is recognised around the world and treasured by most of us when we want to curl up on the couch and binge-watch a box set.

The age-old Aran cardigan gave us ways and means of wearing a button-up sweater – essentially to keep warm. But a throwback to 1990s grunge last winter placed the cardigan firmly back in the style fold of designer labels. Worn long and sloppily, Heidi Slimane at YSL perfectly captured the mood and suddenly we realised that big sheaths of wool hanging up in our wardrobes weren’t just for wearing around the house and sleeping in.

Oversized, messy and cinched with a belt, teamed with great chunky boots, they rekindled into something sophisticated, the epitome of daytime dressy without going over the top.

How to wear yours? Sloppy and oversized or neat and polished – normally the cashmere sort – are the two ways to navigate. If, like me, a chunky Aran sweater feels a lot more inviting than a neat cashmere cardigan on a cold winter morning, dress it up with a long pencil skirt, tights and boots or a equally a tailored shift dress will straddle smart/ casual dressing appropriate for the office.

For day-wear this season, all of nana’s favourites are in here, powered up with exotic prints, colours and fun slogans at Brown Thomas, Zara and Topshop. For a more traditional twist, try The Aran Sweater Market on Lower Grafton Street, College Street, Killarney, or if you’re out west and feeling the cold, the flagship store on Inis Mor.

I’ve had a grá for oversized woolly Aran cardigans since I was a child