Neillí Mulcahy was an Irish designer. In 1962, Mulcahy co-founded the Irish Haute Couture Group with Ib Jorgensen and Irene Gilbert.
Family and education
Neillí Mulcahy was born in Dublin on 27 February 1925. She was the second youngest of the six children of General Richard Mulcahy, was a commander-in-chief of the Irish army and a government minister for Fine Gael and Mary Josephine "Min" Ryan, a founding member of Cumann na mBan. She had two sisters and three brothers. On her maternal side she was related to a number of promient figures in early Irish independence, Mary Kate Ryan, Phyllis Ryan, and James Ryan. Through marriage she was also related to Seán T. O'Kelly. Mulcahy was schooled Loreto College, St Stephen's Green. She attended University College Dublin for a year, studying science, but left to attend dressmaking classes in St Mary's College of Domestic Science, Cathal Brugha Street. Having graduated from the Grafton Academy of Dress Designing, she went to Paris in 1951 to study an academy there. She then spent six months training in the salon and workrooms of Jacques Heim. Neillí married Tommy Bacon, a Dublin solicitor, on 28 April 1956. The couple had seven daughters.
Career
Mulcahy returned to Dublin in 1952 and opened a couture workshop in South Frederick Street with three employees whom she trained. She received an award from Elsa Schiaparelli in 1953. In 1955 she presented her first collection in the drawing room of her family home in Lissenfield, Rathmines launching her career to great acclaim. Her clothes were denoted by her reworking of traditional Irish fabrics like wool and tweed, a common theme in Irish couture of the 1950s. Mulcahy worked with William McNutt of the McNutt Weaving Company and Emily Wynne of Avoca Handweavers on new colours, finishes, and techniques of linen and tweed. She designed tailored wool suits which were known for being easy to wear and had simple designs. Mulcahy insisted that like men, women's suits needed pockets. She used fine knitted or woven woollen materials by Michael McInerny, London, using bright colours that were more popular in the United States than Ireland. When her aunt, Mary Kate, wore Mulcahy's dresses and ballgowns while accompanying her husband at events in Ireland and abroad during the time he served as President of Ireland. One such time was at the first visit of the Irish President to the United States in 1959. She also benefited from the success in the United States of fellow Irish designer, Sybil Connolly, with her exporting most of her output to American and German markets. She presented her 1967 collection on a transatlantic liner, and at a society luncheon fashion event in Chicago in 1968 her designs were exhibited. She founded the Irish Haute Couture Group with Irene Gilbert and Ib Jorgensen in 1962 to promote Irish fashion to foreign markets. Mulcahy won a number of contracts to supply women's uniform suits, including Great Southern Hotels, Allied Irish Banks staff, CIÉ train hostesses, and ShannonDuty Free shop staff. One of her most celebrated uniforms was her 1963 Aer Lingus air hostesses, made in Kelly green tweed. By the 1960s couture became old-fashioned and was seen as too expensive, and Mulcahy's company was unable to adapt to off the hanger clothes. Even her use of Irish fabrics became a sign that her designs were dated, and ultimately unappealing to younger women. She was critical of the government for not supporting the Irish fashion industry, which was subject to extra heavy duties when exported. On 1 July 1969, she closed her workshop. She continued as a designer, working with at least on retailer designing tweed garments, and was an adviser on fashion and garment production to the government. She maintained her links with the Grafton Academy, judging graduating student collections, aiding in the development of a large number of upcoming designers.
