Best Dressed Lady winner Lisa hits out at 'horrible trolls and cyber bullies'

THE winner of the Best Dressed Lady title at the Galway Races last week has told how vile trolls have been attacking her online since she won.

Lisa McGowan, from Tullamore, Co Offaly, bagged €10,000 on Thursday but said her joy has been marred by nasty comments on social media.

Hitting back at her bullies, she said: "It's been an emotional roller coaster. I don't know which way of me is up.

"I've spent probably the last 48 hours either crying or laughing - I've had so much support on my Facebook page with lovely messages coming in and congratulating me.

"And at the same time I've had those horrible trolls and cyber bullies trying to tear me down.

Lisa, whose dress was named after her late brother, spoke of some of the abuse.

She said: "I'm an A-cup girl and I don't have droopy boobs, so if you feel the need to tear me down, go ahead.

"I'm a tough girl and I will cry and I have cried but I'll wipe myself down.

"But there are other girls out there that are not as strong as me."

Lisa said she needed to speak up about what happened so others might think before posting something nasty.

She added: "I feel I need to say this, please anybody out there whether male or female, if you've nothing good to say about anybody, don't say it.

"That's why we have anorexia, depression and self-harm out there.

"Your comments can push somebody over the edge. So just be nice to people."

Lisa told how her sibling was her inspiration for the winning outfit.

Speaking to Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio One, she said: "The dress is called the Chrissy dress after my late brother who passed away - himself and his two friends in a car accident."

Lisa has her own blog called Lisa's Lust List and she has always loved fashion - so much so that a few years ago her dad took her credit card off her.

But now she is launching her own label with her friend.

She said: "It's Strawberry And Lime - strawberry for Shauna and Lime for Lisa. Mid-October, all going to plan, we'll be launching it.

"When myself and Shauna decided to launch Strawberry and Lime, when she was doing out the flat pattern, she said, 'Lisa this dress needs a name and you can choose the first name.

"And I said, 'Let's call it Chrissy', which I did. I didn't tell anybody at the time because I didn't want to put any pressure on him up there.

"But you know he looked after me and we won it. Thanks Chris."