Fashion designer Neillí Mulcahy dies

THE IRISH fashion designer Neillí Mulcahy has died in Dublin after a short illness, aged 87.

A leading name in the 1950s and 1960s, her work was the subject of a recent exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks.

Mulcahy, who ran a haute couture salon in Dublin from 1951 to 1970, was known for her bold use of colour and extensive use of native materials such as linen, poplin and printed wool, but particularly tweed for evening wear. Along with Ib Jorgensen, Irene Gilbert and Clodagh Kennedy, she founded the Irish Haute Couture Group to promote Irish fashion in the US. She designed the Aer Lingus uniform in 1963 in McNutt tweed from Donegal as well as uniforms for CIÉ and the Great Southern Hotels.

Born in Dublin in 1925, she was the daughter of Gen Richard Mulcahy, commander-in-chief of the Irish Army and government minister and a sister of Prof Risteard Mulcahy, the veteran Irish cardiologist.

Having trained at the Grafton Academy of Dress Design, she worked for a time in Paris with couturier Jacques Heim before returning to Dublin and opening her salon in 1952 at the age of 27. Her first solo show was held in her family home, Lissenfield, in Rathmines. Married to Dublin solicitor Tommy Bacon, she was the mother of seven daughters.

One of her most high-profile clients was her aunt, Mrs Mary O’Kelly, wife of President Seán T O’Kelly, who wore the designer’s clothes on the first State visit to the US by an Irish president in 1959. “Her clients were drawn from her connections with Irish politics and society all woven in together. They wanted to show that they were Irish and that they were modern when they wore her tweed suits at home and abroad,” her friend and biographer, fashion designer Liz Clery, said.

Though Mulcahy’s business continued to thrive in the US and Germany, she resisted pressure to move into mass manufacturing. However, the combination of decreasing demand for haute couture clothing in the 1970s and the demands of raising a large family led her finally to close her premises in South Frederick Street in 1970. For some years afterwards she worked part-time as a consultant before retiring from fashion completely.

Her funeral takes place today after 11am Mass at Sacred Heart Church, Donnybrook, to Mount Venus Cemetery.