Limerick style icon almost nabbed by UK police with suspected IRA bomb threat

A BAG in the back of a car in London during The Troubles had style icon Celia Holman Lee close to being arrested by English police as an IRA bomber.

The bag, which was reported to police as a “suspicious package”, was investigated by police and could have put a very different trajectory on the life of the Limerick woman and young mother at the time. 

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In the 1970s doing business between Ireland and the UK was fraught with tensions and border controls. 

This didn’t deter Celia who at the time was over and back on the ferry to Liverpool to get to London monthly to buy clothes for her boutique, which she ran in the city for 18 years.

Labels such as Monsoon, Kelly Coates and Louis Caring, would not have been available at the time in Limerick. 

Her new book Glamour & Grit talks about what must have been a very unnerving experience in a time of high political tension. 

“We had to be careful as Irish people when travelling. During one of our visits, we parked on a side street near Great Portland Street and met with our suppliers. When we returned to the car, we saw the street had been blocked off and the English police squad car was parked beside it, our car of course had an IRL ferry sticker and my own bag was in the back seat.

“The police had broken the car window to determine what was inside the car, we later found out that office workers in the surrounding buildings had seen our car and called the police about a suspicious package inside. 

“I’ll never forget seeing people looking out the office windows above our head and booing us as if we were terrorists. 

“It was one trip to London we wouldn’t forget in a hurry,” the book states. 

When asked about the experience, Celia laughed and said: “It’s true and we had a big Ireland sticker on the car. I wasn’t nervous, but I was annoyed because the police officers broke the window, but they were the kindest, nicest men and they gave us money for breaking the glass.” 

The book, Glamour & Grit was launched in the Savoy Hotel in Limerick. 

Across more than 200 pages, there are pictures spanning six decades with glamourous photoshoots, family photographs and society photographs from over the years. 

The book was released to mark Celia's 60 years in the fashion industry, as well as her 75th birthday, which she celebrated with family at the start of December. 

The book is divided into sections for each decade, with stories, pictures and commercial images. 

There are also tips and tricks from Celia on posture and how important shoulders are for presenting yourself well in photographs.

Celia also gives little tricks on how to recognise your body shape, how to dress for that shape and how to look your best. 

The book also includes stories from Celia's early life and experiences of her childhood in Limerick city. 

There are also tales of brushing shoulders with some of the country's most highly regarded celebrities, as well as how she raised her two children while running the very busy Holman Lee model agency. 

Glamour & Grit was edited by Clodagh O'Leary, Orla Sheil helped with the photographs and Micheal Murphy of HiStyle magazine, published the book. 

The book can be purchased online on glamourandgrit.ie for €39.95 with next day delivery available.