Last week I attended the annual Queen’s University Fashion Society showcase where student designers presented work shaped by identity, place and experience.

It was thoughtful and ambitious, the kind of show that makes it clear there is a lot of creative energy here, even at this early stage.

But it also got me thinking about the way we judge success in Northern Ireland.

There is a tendency to describe people here as ‘humble’, as if we are reluctant to praise our own. But that does not quite ring true: if anything we are just hard to convince.

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There is a sense that something has to be proven elsewhere before we are willing to fully back it ourselves.

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You can see it in the way we talk about film and television. There is currently a lot of focus on the north having a cultural moment, and rightly so. The actors, writers and directors who have made it onto global stages are worth celebrating. But that recognition often comes after the fact.

Short film An Irish Goodbye had already been widely praised before it won the Oscar in 2023 but it was that win that brought it firmly into the spotlight here.

It was not that the work suddenly became better, it was that it had been validated and that validation still carries weight.

The QUB show sits at the other end of that spectrum.

It brought together designers at an early stage in their careers, developing ideas, refining their work and trying to establish themselves in an industry that can be difficult to access.

The work is there and the talent is there but it is not the kind of thing most people are paying attention to.

And when attention does come, it does not land evenly. Fashion rarely enters the conversation in the same way as film or television, despite the scale and influence of the industry.

That is despite the fact that one of the most influential designers working today, Jonathan Anderson, is from Magherafelt, with his work at Loewe and now Dior shaping conversations across the industry.

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A similar dynamic can be seen in art. The late Irish painter Graham Knuttel built a reputation over decades, with a bold, instantly recognisable style. Collectors included Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Whoopi Goldberg. Yet for many it was that level of celebrity interest that brought his work into focus rather than the work itself.

Work can be strong and fully formed and still struggle to gain attention until it has been recognised somewhere else and by that point it becomes easier to trust. That is part of the issue.

It is often framed as humility but it feels closer to hesitation: a reluctance to decide for ourselves what is worth backing without outside approval.

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Because if Northern Ireland is having a creative moment, it does not only exist once it has been exported.

It is happening here, in real time, whether we are paying attention to it or not.

So perhaps it’s time we started to recognise and promote our own unique strengths rather than sitting back and waiting for external endorsement.

© The Irish News