Saoirse-Monica Jackson loves playing characters both on screen and off – perhaps one of the reasons she loves fashion so much. “I think you can change your style depending on your mood, and that’s really what I love about bags and clothes,” she tells Stylist. “They can make your personality so visceral to everyone you meet that day”.

When the 29-year-old actor sets her mind to something, it usually all goes to plan. Her personal trademark – a mini skirt, knee-high boots (“I’m a lover of them, let’s say”) and a permanently wry grin – can be traced back to Derry and County Donegal, where she spent much of her childhood.

“The women of my city are quite stylish,” she reflects. Looking back at her style choices, she tells me, her mum was “an incredibly stylish person” whose sartorial choices have informed her own style lexicon.

One Guess bag, in particular, that her mother bought on a trip to the US (“the States, as we call it”) sticks out as a first and favourite fashion memory. “I absolutely loved it and just slowly claimed it as my school bag in year eight, which I was very proud of’ I’ve accumulated more little pieces from her.”

Jackson is no stranger to stealing the show. Her role as Erin Quinn in the hit Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls was so well received that it saw her nominated for the IFTA Gala Television Award for best female performance.

Jackson’s not one to boast, though; she demurs on the subject of her talent and accredits the success of the show to its incredible cast and contributors, singling out costume director Cathy Prior for special praise as the person who “built Erin from the ground up”.

“It’s fantastic and so authentic. When I was younger, I used to love ringing my friends’ landlines and all of us deciding that we were going to wear a different version of the same skirt that day, and I think that Cathy really gave that flavour to Derry Girls.”

Although Jackson is no longer that girl in her late teens, traces of her youth still linger. (She has a penchant for the colour white but rarely wears it: “I’m such a messy eater!” she tells me.)

Jackson will soon celebrate her 30th birthday, marking the occasion with eBay and its bright new bag collection, 30 & Thriving. Picking and choosing bags is an ultimate luxury for the actor – for anyone, really. And Jackson has taken full advantage of the opportunity with an eclectic array of choices; “class” ones, for that matter.

Below, Saoirse-Monica Jackson reveals her ultimate handbag wish list, her favourite fashion memories and the most stylish Derry Girl.

Saoirse-Monica Jackson shares her ultimate handbag wishlist, pre-set rituals and the best-dressed Derry Girl