‘We should be bold, bright and beautiful,’ says Elaine on her Iftas outfit

TV3 presenter Elaine Crowley didn’t wear black on Ifta red carpet because she believes that the time has come for women to be ‘bold and courageous’ and ‘not to feel in mourning anymore’.

The Cork woman attended the star-studded Irish Film and Television Academy awards gala last Thursday in the Mansion House in Dublin’s city centre, looking a million dollars in a classic Bardot-style frock with pockets and cross-over detail.

While many actresses walked the red carpet in black dresses on the night, the broadcaster opted for a soft-metallic silver number.

And the 40-year-old TV3 star said that women should be able to wear whatever they want, whenever they want. ‘To be honest, it’s each to their own,’ she said. ‘If you want to wear black, that’s completely up to you.

‘But I think the epicentre of the whole #MeToo movement was Hollywood in the wake of the Weinstein affair and that’s absolutely as it should have been.

‘They made a very brave stance at the Golden Globes but I think the tide has turned quite a lot now.

‘I think as women we should be bold and bright and beautiful and courageous and wear whatever the hell we want when the hell we want.

‘And I feel that now is the time for people here in Ireland and the industry here in Ireland and women here in Ireland to go, “yeah, this is us, this is what we’re doing”.

‘And we don’t have to feel that we’re in mourning anymore for something that hopefully now is in the past.’

That sentiment was echoed by The Others star Fionnula Flanagan, 76, who sported blue to the Iftas and didn’t feel any pressure to wear black. ‘No, I don’t make statements like that,’ she said. ‘I thought it was total hooey at the Golden Globes.

‘Surely we are winning for God’s sake so why not wear red or gold or silver or colours. To wear black in mourning for the fact that we are winning? Jesus.’

Elaine, pictured, said that the tide has turned on the gender ‘imbalance of power’. ‘I think the Weinstein situation was particularly disgusting. I’m not sure it was as systemic in Ireland as it was over there but I think within every industry, within every profession, there has been a huge imbalance of power between women and men,’ she continued.

‘And I think we got used to it because a lot of women, when these things came out, we said, “Oh my God, I’m so lucky that never happened to me.” But it’s happened everybody. We’re used to being treated like that but that day is gone, the tide has turned and we’re not going to be treated that way anymore. And not only that, they know they can’t treat us like that anymore and they’re scared and that’s good.’