Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

Is this the year we relinquish our crown to Sweden as the top winner of the contest since we first entered in 1965? Johnny Logan became the first person to win the competition twice, finding success with What’s Another Year? (1980) and Hold Me Now (1987), before we racked up an astonishing four victories over the space of five years thanks to Linda Martin (Why Me? 1992), Niamh Kavanagh (In Your Eyes 1993), Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan (Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids 1994), and Eimear Quinn (The Voice 1996).

Since the first Irish triumph in 1970 with Dana and All Kinds of Everything, we have totalled seven victories – a record number of wins unmatched for 27 years until Sweden finally equalled our tally in 2023. Sweden’s entry is a firm favourite to punch us into second place with our Norwegian singer Emmy not winning over the critics with her futuristic entry Laika Party about a dog going into space.

But we all know the show is as much as about the staging and outrageous fashion as it is about the music.

The first winner of the contest in 1956, Lys Assia, secured her win in a dark, formal dress as befitting that sombre decade.

The 1960s started off with sharp suits and dresses, but morphed into a less formal look for contestants, with British winner Lulu wearing a mini-dress in 1969 and Sandie Shaw going bare foot performing for her win with Puppet on a String in 1967.

The 1970s was all about flared colourful pants, jumpsuits and platform shoes – exemplified by the 1974 winners ABBA.

Block colours dominated the early ‘80s – who can forget the daring striptease move of the UK’s Bucks Fizz, clad in shiny ensembles which wouldn’t be out of place on the set of Fame – but was later overtaken by spandex, lace shirts, ripped jeans, leg warmers, neon colours, side ponytails and mullets.

In 1993, Belgian singer Barbara Dex wore a self-made, semi-transparent dress, which sparked one fan site to award the Barbara Dex award for a few years to worst-dressed contestants.

The 2000s were a melting pot of random styles with contestants showing off a lot more skin – remember Sertab Erana’s entry for Turkey in 2003 or Ruslana’s outfit for Ukraine in 2004.

The 2010s were all about technology, exemplified by Ireland’s Jedward, who championed a futuristic look for their back-to-back turns.

Projection costumes were the star of the decade with Azerbaijan and Moldova showcasing this technology in 2012 and 2013.  In 2018 Estonia’s projection dress worn by Elina Nechayeva covered the entire floor.

I thought Bambi Thug’s demonic outfit last year was phenomenal – as was her performance. It seems Emmy is favouring a return to the futuristic spacey look, much in the same vein as Jedward. I will certainly have fun checking them all out this Thursday for the second semi-final and the final on Saturday.

Pictured: Emmy representing Ireland in Basel for 2025 with Laika Party