Toast St Patrick’s Day with our movie-inspired green goodies

Today everyone’s Irish so join the party!

Reject red, banish blue and ditch denim as today there is only one colour to be seen in – green. Yup, whether you prefer a pine shade or more of a moss, opting for an olive or jumping on the jade bandwagon, green is the only way to go for it’s St. Patrick’s Day when we toast the patron saint of Ireland. So it’s time to dig out some Irish ancestry, polish up your Oirish accent (c’mon, it can’t be much worse than some movie ones we’ve heard over the years – Tom Cruise in Far and Away, Brad Pitt in The Devil’s Own, Sean Connery in The Untouchables, though it seems unfair to pick on him, his accents are always terrible and inevitably Scottish) and play on every Irish stereotype you can think of (from Shamrocks to Guinness, leprechauns to potatoes) as today we’re saluting the Emerald Isle.

So who was St Patrick? Well pay attention at the back of the class as here comes your history lesson in a nutshell. St Patrick was born in Scotland (believed to be in 387) and in his teens was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland, where he lived for six years getting to know the people and culture of the place. This was still a time of pagan worship and Druids, yet here he discovered God and it was through a dream from the Almighty that he was told to leave Ireland and head back to Britain.

This he did, escaping from his captors and soon reuniting with his parents before entering the Church and becoming ordained as a priest. Once established, he returned to Ireland (this time his own decision) and began spreading the gospel. He and his increasing number of loyal disciples preached all over the country, building churches and this was how he lived his life until he died on 17th March AD 460. Of course, as when digging into the proven history of all celebrated Saints, things can get a bit sketchy yet those are the bare bones of the story and are probably more than enough to get you through the day without looking like an eejit.

But that’s enough history, on to today’s celebrations and there are so many out there. Since the mid-90s, Ireland has enjoyed the St Patrick’s Day Festival, a few days packed full of fireworks, concerts and parades and these are echoed all over the world, from South Korea to Argentina. Rivers are often dyed green and last year, the White House even got in on the act, the north White House fountain spurting green water to mark the international knees-up.

And so to join in, we’re enjoying the Irish spirit with some green goodies from the movies. We’re working the look with the Joker’s green waistcoat from The Dark Knight (pair with a purple coat, matching trousers and make-upped mug for the full effect), and the Irish lucky boxer shorts as seen on Gerard Butler’s ill-fated Irish hubby, Gerry Kennedy in weepie drama, P.S. I Love You. And saluting some of cinema’s greatest green characters, we’ve got tees, trinkets and colognes (!) inspired by the likes of Ghostbusters’ Slimer, the Hulk and Star War’s Yoda.

Have a great St Patrick’s Day!