'It's never been cooler to be Irish in London. So why do I feel conflicted about it?'

"Irishness has become cool overseas, but for emigrants who had to leave after the financial crash, seeing this cultural shift has been accompanied by mixed feelings POV: it's a Saturday night in Shoreditch. You're sitting in a dingy bar, sipping an overpriced glass of astringent Chenin Blanc. The door swings open, in walks a crowd of twentysomethings. They shuffle over to the bar wearing clothes that instantly transport you back to your youth: low-slung, baggy jeans, tiny tank tops and ballet pumps."

"They turn around and a pint of the black stuff is clutched in every hand. With the synchronicity of an Olympic diving squad, they take several swift gulps, before holding up their glasses to reveal a line that hits the precise midpoint of the branded glass."

Irish cultural identity and symbols have become fashionable in overseas urban scenes. Young people adopt stylized Irish cues—clothing, mannerisms and the ritual of drinking stout—in public nightlife settings. The aesthetic and performative details, from low-slung jeans and tiny tank tops to synchronized gulps and precisely poured branded pints, create a recognizable version of Irishness. For emigrants who left after the financial crash, the mainstreaming of these markers produces mixed feelings: recognition and pride coexist with dislocation, nostalgia and complicated emotions tied to the circumstances of economic exile.

Read at Independent