Neilli Mulcahy
HER self effacing nature, coupled with the fact that she closed her business more than 25 years ago, means that few people today realise just how famous a designer Neilli Mulcahy used to be. But in the early 1960s, she was one of the most widely known names in Irish fashion and the shows she staged in her studio on Dublin's South Frederick Street attracted enormous attention.
In 1962, she was commissioned to design new uniforms for Aer Lingus staff. According to an Irish Times report of the time, the hostesses thought the ensembles "splendid, from both the practical and flattery points of view" - and every bride of note (not least Una O'Higgins when she married Eoin O'Malley) had to have her dress designed by Neilli Mulcahy.
Daughter of General Richard Mulcahy, she followed her family's academic tradition by going to UCD to study science. But she quickly realised this was not where her real interest lay. After gaining some experience in Ireland, she spent time in France working in the couture house of Jacques Heim before coming back to Dublin and opening a business under her own name in 1952.
Neilli Mulcahy appears to have enjoyed success from the first time she showed her clothes to the public. Early reviews of shows to which she contributed garments often refer to the glamour of her evening wear; one much photographed example featured tiered layers of white lawn with a tightly boned bodice in bottle green taffeta.
But it was for her use of tweed that she became primarily known. She worked closely with manufacturers in Donegal to produce the fabrics, often combining handknitting and tweed in the same garment. Her colour sense was always bold and varied; among the many pieces of her work which she has kept are a darted, sleeveless, worsted shift dress in apple green from the mid 1960s and a pale blue worsted coat lined in emerald green the latter shade also used for the matching worsted caftan. She also favoured printing onto wool, again using vivid and strong patterns to powerful effect. While her forms were never complicated, her finish was always impeccable; clothes made more than 30 years ago still look flawless when turned inside out. Practical minded ("I'm very much a believer that you must have pockets), she preferred - as far as possible to keep evidence of skilled workmanship hidden, opting, for example, for concealed closings whenever possible.
Initially in the company of Irene Gilbert and Sybil Connolly, and later by herself, she showed her work in the US where the combination of fresh design and traditional materials was much admired. A multi-coloured plaid ensemble from 1954 was described in the New York Times as displaying "imaginative whimsy", while a year later Women's Wear Daily pronounced "she has a way with tweeds which is worth watching". Because of her background, she never became involved in factory production but concentrated on commissioned couture work. Among many others, she created clothes for her aunt Phyllis Kelly, wife of President Sean T. O'Kelly, as well as Maureen Lynch and the late Mary Lavin.
Then in 1970, Neilli Mulcahy retired. Her South Frederick Street premises had been sold and she could not find anywhere else suitable. But she also had six young children and three sales trips to the US in the previous 18 months showed that raising a family and running a business was not going to be easy.
"And remember," she points out now, "denim and jeans came in and killed off a lot of fashion at that time." Wisely, she decided to leave fashion while her reputation was still at its peak. For a few years, she continued working part time as a consultant but then finished altogether. Insisting she does not miss her former career, Neilli Mulcahy now only designs clothes for family occasions.
"We've had four weddings and he made everything for those. Two people who used to work for me come in to the house and it's like the old workshop all over again."
Mary O'Donnell
IN May 1970, The Irish Times's Women First column carried a report on the presentation of designer Mary O'Donnell's most recent collection to US audiences, including a charity show in the home of Senator Edward Kennedy. Many of O'Donnell's hallmarks were visible in these clothes: hand made crochet skirts and dresses, for example threaded through with coloured silk ribbon and patchwork separates with each brightly hued, diamond shaped panel outlined in black braid.
The US (and members of its Kennedy clan) has always played an important role in Mary O'Donnell's career. Originally from Kilcar, Co Donegal where she spun and carded cloth while still a child, she emigrated to New York as a teenager. There she worked in factories and restaurants to pay for studying at the Traphagen Academy of Dress Design. Her ambition was to secure a place in the house of Mainbocher, the most famous and exclusive couture house in the US. It is a tribute to her talent and determination that she succeeded in being accepted for a position at Mainbocher where she remained for two and a half years before returning to Ireland.
In Dublin, after spending some time with Sybil Connolly, she opened a premises on Dawson Street, staying on the same site for 18 years while she built her reputation both at home and abroad. One of her admirers in the early days was the Sunday Times fashion writer Ernestine Carter who in 1965 described O'Donnell's clothes as "unashamedly pretty (with) the refreshing innocence of a long, cool drink of water". The fabrics and forms she used were those long associated with Ireland - linen, lace and crochet - but often given elaborate decoration so that the origins of the material became difficult to discern. Among the less obviously Irish pieces she has preserved from her Dawson Street days are a red chiffon top with a black silk organza skirt embroidered all over with daisies and an eau de nil coloured silk organza slip top and skirt mounted on taffeta and embroidered all over with wild flowers.
All her work has an intricacy which demonstrates expert handiwork. Mary O'Donnell offered essentially a couture service both because her experience with Mainbocher inclined her in this direction and because the clothes demanded a high degree of labour. In the mid 1970s, she described her business as "basically a cottage industry;" she maintained some 35 women working in their homes, plus an additional to staff in her Dawson Street studio. All embroidery was done in Co Donegal, and crochet work came from a number of homes in the greater Dublin area. As much as possible, fabrics were created specially for her.
During this busy period, she also found time to design costumes for a film of Tristan and Isolde which starred Richard Burton. These clothes reflected more clearly than the work for private clients, her interest in Irish traditional design. Since then, O'Donnell has had other opportunities to devise clothing based on Irish themes, such as the collection she produced two years ago based on the poems of W.B. Yeats.
Mary O'Donnell closed her Dublin premises in 1983 after which she ran a factory in Donegal for three years. "It was a struggle," she admits now. Understandably, she returned to the US where a loyal following for her work remained. And although she is now also planning to work in Ireland again, she has retained a place in New York.
"Basically, I'm commuting between Ireland and America," she explains. "I went back to couture about a year ago, and now I'm looking for a place here in Dublin; I should have it organised before Christmas."
She intends to travel to New York. Washington and Chicago twice annually, to show her new work, take orders and deliver finished pieces. A core of some 40 American clients "always buy" and there are still Irishwomen who are devotees. Among the better known of her customers have been Miranda Iveagh. Frances Colonna, Maeve Hillary, Maureen Charlton and Breda Kennedy. "I'll never stop," she says. "I wouldn't know what else to do."