This year, it was all about drama, statement and see-through clothing.

The Rose of Tralee is not a replica of the Father Ted “lovely girls” competition, but is “an excellent and rare opportunity for women to highlight their achievements”, a female professor has said.

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Margaret Jennings discovers many older women are using extensions to give their long locks a boost, as the trend to go short wanes.

Annmarie O’Connor highlights the new year’s not to be missed fashion events.

Check out our spoiler-free guide to what’s good to watch on the box tonight.

Style queen Celia Holman Lee has issued a warning to women contemplating getting a tattoo: "Think of what it will look like when you get old and your skin goes saggy!"

When student Jennifer Purcell sees the coastguard helicopter hovering over her native city, she pauses and prays another life has not been lost to the River Shannon.

MENTION reaching the age of 100 in Ireland and we think of the congratulatory letter and cheque which the president issues and the hope that the recipients can still enjoy their very special birthday.

Limerick’s reputation as a rising star of city tourism will be further cemented this weekend as the 10th Riverfest is set to bring more than 50,000 people into the city.

Limerick women make great models due to their beauty and are far more stylish than women from Dublin or Cork, fashion queen Celia Holman Lee has said.

A 19th century church was last night transformed into a fashion mecca for a major international awards ceremony in Limerick.

Champagne was flowing and there were pints on the house in a Kerry pub last night to celebrate a stylish off-course victory at Listowel Races.

The days of the stereotypical punter wearing a shabby raincoat, biro in hand, with a cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth as he studies the form are, it seems, history.

YOU would think she had it all. But apparently not.

A Kerry-born designer has been asked, for the third time, to dress one of the world’s most powerful women and will also be welcomed to the Rose of Tralee Festival this month as guest of honour.

TV presenter and model agent Celia Holman Lee is suing the Limerick pub run by former Ireland and Munster rugby star Jerry Flannery over a fall she claims occurred in the premises.

HE made his name hosting Today Tonight on RTÉ in the 1980s.

Peace broke out under the battlements of Limerick’s King John’s Castle yesterday between a leading barrister and a top publisher who had been locked in a war of words over tomato ketchup.

The Ladbrokes Irish Grand National is one of the most precious jewels in Ireland’s racing crown, and it was Lion Na Bearnai who came up trumps, returning at odds of 33/1, with the crowds happy to cheer him into the winners’ enclosure with his popular local trainer Tom Gibney.

FASHION stylist Celia Holman Lee yesterday spoke of her distress at losing precious jewellery on a night out.

STYLE guru Celia Holman Lee busily married the best of Irish fashion with the royal wedding yesterday as more than 300 — mostly women — crowded Limerick’s Milk Market for a public screening of the nuptials.

ROYAL wedding watchers will get to see the British royal wedding on a big screen being erected in Limerick for the occasion.

A LADY in red was first past the post in the fashion stakes at sun-splashed and crowded Listowel Races.

ANDREA ROCHE swept to victory last night as the Most Stylish Woman at the Peter Mark VIP Style awards.

KATE MOSS may get all the attention but most women think of her more as dartboard material than fashion inspiration.

THEY’RE smart, good-looking, charming, well-educated and if they could only waltz, they’d be perfection itself.

THE National Ploughing Championships for the wellies: Killarney Races for the brollies.

Boookmaker Paddy Power have made ex-Big Brother housemate Ray Shah their 2/1 favourite to dance his way to victory in a one-off charity showing of Jigs ‘n’ Reels on New Years Eve.

IF you were an ostrich or a peacock, Killarney Races wasn’t a safe place to be yesterday.

Donal Hickey

Donal Hickey, Killarney

FOR once, Munster rugby star Jim Williams led the way out onto a crowded Limerick arena without feeling any pressure.

IT was first time lucky for glamorous secondary school teacher Emily O’Keeffe, winner of the Queen of Fashion competition at Killarney Races, yesterday.

IT was enough to take your mind off the loss of a few euro.