Helen Quealy Murphy admits that prior to winning best dressed at the Galway Races in 2014, she had never even been to a ladies day before. “I’d been to a race meeting; but I’d been in my wellies and my jeans,” laughs the fashion blogger behind “Daily Diva Diary” as she twirls for the camera in a full midi skirt – one of her signature styles.

Though “Diva” is a bit of a misnomer, as this secondary-school teacher and mum of four is most definitely down to earth, despite having built up a dedicated following on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat for her fashion tips.

“‘She tries on clothes in Dunnes so you don’t have to,’” Helen smiles, recalling how somebody recently described her.

Yet she reveals to Irish Country Living that – far from the confident creature she might appear before the camera – she only recently rediscovered her sense of style.

“I had the four children very close together,” says Helen, who is originally from West Clare, but lives in Douglas, Co Cork with her husband Eamon and their children Katie (10), Roisin (8), Lucy (7) and Dan (6).

“I was pregnant effectively for 36 months and I had totally lost sight of anything outside of leggings and maternity tops. I actually had no sense of style, it was just gone. I was just ‘mammy’, and that was very important and I was delighted to be able to do it, but it was after we had our last child and I kind of felt: ‘Right, I need to find myself again here somewhere.’”

In what she describes as “a Samson story in reverse”, Helen booked an appointment with a hairdresser in Cork city.

“I was literally like an English sheep dog at that stage- I could hardly see out from under this big mop of hair- and she gave me the tightest pixie cut you could imagine and honestly, it just made me more aware of what I had to do to pull it off and how to dress basically to suit this new hairstyle,” she says.

The next stage of her reinvention came when a friend entered Helen in the Carraig Donn “Woman of the Year” competition, which she went on and won.

“It just gave me leeway to explore other styles that I mightn’t have been able to afford to otherwise,” she says of her prize, which allowed her to mix up her wardrobe.

birth of a diva

However, Daily Diva Diary was only born thanks to the divine intervention of a friend, Niamh.

“I had four (children) under four and Niamh used to call in every evening on the way home from work. She was a real lifeline,” says Helen.

“She knew I had no kind of ‘outlet’, so Niamh actually came in one day in 2014 and she said, ‘Quealy, I’m after setting up a page for you and it’s called Daily Diva Diary’… I didn’t even pick the name!”

The page built up a following slowly but surely, but really took off after Helen decided to attend her first ladies day in Galway that year, wearing a full midi skirt and top from Coast that she had bought for a wedding, along with a disc hat she embellished herself the night before using bits of a necklace from Dunnes.

The rest is history, as she was selected as best dressed on the day.

“Literally the blog kind of exploded from there,” says Helen, who has over 40,000 followers on Facebook with about a quarter of a million views per week, as well as a growing fanbase on Snapchat and Instagram.

As well as sharing her own style secrets on the blog, Helen features current collections from boutiques to high-street stores and supermarkets, profiles Irish and international designers and also answers reader queries for recommendations on everything from race-wear to mother of the bride style.

“My market is definitely over 30, if not over 35, and I would say it’s predominantly women with children,” she says, explaining that while many of these women love style, they are “time poor” when it comes to sourcing clothes themselves.

“I think that’s why it’s popular: some of the rooting is done for them.”

And while it started as a hobby, Helen is now finding herself in demand for MC-ing fashion shows and style nights, which she enjoys doing, along with her day job teaching English and religion at Midleton CBS.

For this year’s Galway Races, she is working with designer Julie Caulfield of Love Jewels on a special piece though, at the time of this interview, has yet to organise her hat.

“That’s me pretty much: lastminute.com,” she laughs.

Till then, however, feast your eyes on these looks put together featuring some of Ireland’s leading milliners and boutiques, as well as pieces from Helen’s own wardrobe. CL

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