Well done for giving us this perfect summary of the state of play. I agree 100%.
The sentence that stands out for me is "a bunch of women who for one reason or another lacked confidence.." that is the crux of it.
There is a large contingent of women in Ireland in their late 40s, 50s and early 60s maybe who have a set of characteristics that are unique to that age but also unique to Ireland, the Irish craic culture, keeping up with the Jones's but also driven by the traditional Irish view of women's place in society. Irish women, traditionally, have been placed in the home. Have babies, rare them, make dinner for the ole husband and generally shut up. But the women of Ireland are slowly standing up and being counted. The country is modernising. These women rightly so want to be seen, they are more than baby makers, the kids are rared and they want a life, they want attention from husband (rightly so) and society. Yes ladies!!!
The problem is the confidence in how to do this just isn't there. There is no precedence for this outside of the big cities. What do we wear, how should we act, what should we be seen doing?
Along comes Lusty. A women like themselves from the country, a big town even. She has glamour. One marriage ended but she is living the dream with a new man, glamour holidays, being seen, being counted. She *was* what many women outside of Dublin wanted to be. She sold them the aspiration. And now sells them the stuff thay goes with it.
