Sybil Connolly

Sybil Connolly (24 January 1921 – 6 May 1998) was a celebrated fashion designer and global icon known for her innovative use of traditional Irish textiles in haute couture. Often described as "Dublin's Dior", she achieved international repute and success, making her one of the first Irish designers to do so. She was a member of the "Big Three" Irish fashion designers (along with Irene Gilbert and Raymond Kenna/Kay Peterson), and was described by former Taoiseach (prime minister) Jack Lynch as "a national treasure."

She worked with brands such as Tiffany & Co. and Bloomingdale's. Among her fashion label's famous clients were American First Lady and style icon Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, the Rockefellers, and the Mellons. Her activities were covered in both the fashion press and the social columns of publications such as the ''Hollywood Reporter''. Described by Bettina Ballard, the influential editor of American ''Vogue'', as a "personable milk-skinned Irish charmer," she came to the notice of Carmel Snow, the Dalkey-born editor of '' Harpers Bazaar''. Snow was instrumental in introducing Sybil Connolly to the American market and press.

Early life and career

Sybil Veronica Connolly was born on Clanllienwen Road, in Morriston, Swansea, Wales. Sybil was the eldest of two daughters of Evelyn Connolly (née Reynolds) from Wales and John Connolly, an insurance salesman from Waterford, Ireland. Her education came largely from her Welsh grandfather and private tutors. Her father died while she was a teenager, and the family moved to Waterford, where she spent two years at the local Our Lady of Mercy School, on Military Road. At seventeen her interest in clothes led her to be apprenticed to Bradley & Co., a prestigious London dressmaking company run by two Irish brothers, Jim and Comerford Bradley. Their clients included Queen Mary. Connolly would attend Buckingham Palace fittings where she was allowed to hold the pins. She returned to Ireland in 1940, where she worked for the Dublin store Richard Alan. She remained unknown to the general public, for the next thirteen years, until she replaced the French-Canadian head designer Gaston Mallet in 1953. She was invited by Jack Clarke to produce the next season's range. Here her work was spotted by American buyers. She was known already for her textiles, including the crystal pleated linen that was said to take nine yards of material for each yard of finished cloth. It is said that she received her initial training at The Grafton Academy.

Establishment of label

Connolly's first major fashion show was held at Dunsany Castle in 1953. Photographer Richard Dormer used the house and its grounds for a shoot of Connolly's clothes and one picture – showing model Anne Gunning in a full-length red Kinsale cape and white crochet evening dress – made the cover of Life magazine in August 1953 under the heading 'Irish invade fashion world'." The show was a huge success – thanks in part to '' Harpers Bazaar'' editor Carmel Snow. It was attended by American press and buyers and Connolly’s career took off rapidly after that, especially in the United States.

Connolly capitalised on this publicity by travelling with her collection to the US later the same year, where she made another life-long friend, Eleanor Lambert, doyenne of American fashion publicists. Avedon's photographs of Connolly and her fashions also ran in '' Harpers Bazaar'' of October 1953. Connolly officially launched her couture label in 1957; she was 36.

Part of Connolly's success may be attributed to her flair for publicity. She was also a glamorous advert for her brand – a 1954 feature in ''Housewife'' magazine gushed: "this fairytale person has looks. Short curling dark hair. Eyes the brown of peat...And a model figure too". She was made part of the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1965.

As her profile continued to rise in the United States, so did her client list – with Julie Andrews and Elizabeth Taylor wearing her clothes. Notably, Jacqueline Kennedy wore a Sybil Connolly pleated linen dress when she sat for an official Aaron Shikler White House portrait in 1970. Many of her designs were sold, via private shows, to prominent social names such as Mellon, Rockefeller and Dupont family members. By the time she was profiled in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' in November 1957, three-quarters of Sybil Connolly's gross earnings (then estimated at $500,000 per annum) originate in sales to the United States. She broadened her export market via a friendship with the newspaper magnate Frank Packer, with two heavily publicised visits to Australia in October 1954 and August 1957.

In the late 1950s, she was employing around 100 women, half of them working from their own homes where they wove tweed or handmade lace.

Among her assignments was to redesign habits for three orders of nuns – the Sisters of Mercy in the United States and two Irish orders.

Brand hallmarks

Connolly was adept at reworking traditional Irish fabrics and styles – including peasant blouses, flannel petticoats and shawls, finely pleated linen, wools such as Báinín, Limerick and Carrickmacross lace, – to give them contemporary appeal and glamour. She took the red flannel traditionally used for petticoats in Connemara and turned it into huge billowing peasant skirts. Vawn Corrigan cites her importance in the re-imagination of Donegal tweed. She made one skirt out of men's linen handkerchiefs, and in 1954 a summer dress out of striped linen tea towels, called the "Kitchen Fugue", leading her to be praised by ''Bazaar'' as someone with an "intuitively facile hand". Perhaps her most distinctive contribution to fashion was pleated handkerchief linen – as worn by Jackie Kennedy in the official White House portrait – it took up to nine yards of Irish linen handkerchiefs to create one yard of the uncrushable pleated fabric that she pioneered. Designs were created in Ireland, and Connolly employed up to 100 women, mostly crocheting and weaving in their own homes. Although there was intricate craft in her designs, prices were lower than the typical European couture label. Connolly worked directly with the cloth, without preliminary sketches.

The First Love dress

Sybil Connolly's signature design was the dress made from pleated handkerchief linen. The first pleated handkerchief linen garment to be shown in the United States was a white evening dress called First Love. It required three hundred handkerchiefs and contained more than five thousand pleats.
Time magazine described it as "the dress that brought the house down" in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, where it showed in March 1953 alongside Europe's top designers of the time, including Dior, Balenciaga and Visconti.
The First Love dress was made in the Clarke's Richard and Alan shop in 58 Grafton Street, Dublin, where Sybil Connolly worked for more than 10 years. In 1953 Connolly had only very recently begun designing dresses for the business.

In July 1954, Richard Clarke married Dorothy, and she wore the First Love Dress for the occasion. After the wedding, Dorothy had it shortened and wore it to dress dances. Almost 60 years later, when her granddaughter Anna Clarke got engaged, she asked her grandfather if she could wear it on her own big day. The dress was repaired and restored by freelance textile conservator Rachel Phelan in 2013, and Anna Clarke actually got to wear it.

Later career

Her home, Number 71 Merrion Square – which she described as "the house that linen built" – became a showcase for her taste and private clients would be served jasmine tea by a butler called James. Located in one of the most fashionable areas of Dublin, it was what she called a "shop window for Ireland".

In the 1980s, Connolly began designing for luxury goods makers Tiffany & Co., Tipperary Crystal, Brunschwig & Fils and Schumacher. Sybil also revived interest in the designs of Mary Delany (1700-1788), basing a series of Tiffany & Co. tableware on her floral embroidery. In her later career, Connolly began designing interior fabrics and wallpapers.

In the 1980s, she became involved with the restoration of The Swiss Cottage, Cahir, County Tipperary. The Cottage was originally built in the early 1800s by Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Glengall, based on a design by Regency architect John Nash. The cottage is rustic in style with a distinguished thatched roof. The interior theme was based on nature. Such was Connolly's interest in the restoration she helped to raise funds for the project. The Swiss Cottage opened to the public in 1989.

Recognition and legacy

In 1991, Connolly received an honorary doctoral degree ( LLD) from the National University of Ireland.

In 2012, Connolly's work attracted renewed interest when actor Gillian Anderson wore a vintage dress by the designer for the BAFTAs. The Hunt Museum, Limerick City houses examples of her work. In 2018, the museum released images of Sybil's designs into the Public Domain.

Writing

In the 1980s, Connolly turned to writing. She wrote 3 books:

''In an Irish Garden'' (1986)

''In an Irish House'' (1988)

''Irish Hands - the tradition of beautiful crafts'' (1994)

Gallery

Dresses

File:Heiress dress 1957 by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Front.jpg, Heiress gown from 1957 with chevron pleated handkerchief linen.
File:Pink Ice Gown by Sybil Connolly.jpg, Pink Ice gown with Carrickmacross appliqué lace.
File:Lavender evening gown by Sybil Connolly.jpg, Lavender evening gown with gossamer pleated linen.
File:Wedding two-piece by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Front.jpg, Wedding two-piece outfit in pleated linen. The skirt is based on the design of the ‘First Love’ dress.
File:Gold Short Jacket by Sybil Connolly.jpg, Gold Lace Jacket
File:Washer Woman skirt 1957 by Sybil Connolly.jpg, Red Flannel Wool, Quilted skirt
File:Deep petrol blue evening gown by Sybil Connolly.jpg, Full-length petrol blue silk evening gown
File:White Crochet dress designed by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Front.jpg, White Crochet dress designed by Sybil Connolly, Full Length Front
File:White Crochet dress designed by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Back.jpg, White Crochet dress designed by Sybil Connolly, Full Length Back
File:Black Lace kaftan “Illusion” by Sybil Connolly- Full length FRONT.jpg, Black Lace kaftan “Illusion”-Front-
File:Black Lace kaftan “Illusion” by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Back.jpg, Black Lace kaftan “Illusion”-Back-
File:Green Pleated Linen Dress, 'Irish Moss' by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Back.jpg, Green Pleated Linen Dress- Front-
File:Green Pleated Linen Dress, 'Irish Moss' by Sybil Connolly - Full Length Front.jpg, Green Pleated Linen Dress- Back-
File:Green Poplin Skirt by Sybil Connolly- full length front.jpg, Green Poplin Skirt by Sybil Connolly- Front-
File:Green Poplin Skirt by Sybil Connolly- Detail.jpg, Green Poplin Skirt by Sybil Connolly- Details-

Sketches

File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Interpretaion.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Blushing.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Lace.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Tara.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Orange parfait.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Dolphin.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Tango.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Enchantment.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Deerstalker.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Whisper.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Lady B.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, White Lilac.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Trans Season.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, White wool.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, C Vanney.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Blackbird.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Pink Parfait.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, V.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Almond.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Turquoise Plum.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Best Behaviour.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Night Drifter.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Green Pleated Coat.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Frill Detail Dress.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Brown & White Plaid.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Gentle Atmosphere.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Tweed Delight.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Cream Puff.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Black & White Coat.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Carrickmacross Lace Dress.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Many Pannelled Dress.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Cloak with cape.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Young Evening.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Frill Collar Dress.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Almond II.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Ivory Tusk.tif
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Tie-collar Dress.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Dress with Bow Front.tiff
File:Design Sketch by Sybil Connolly, Skirt Suit.tif

References

Bibliography

*Connolly, Sybil ''Irish Hands: The Tradition of Beautiful Crafts'', Hearst Books, 1995.

External links

*
Hunt Museum online exhibition of Sybil Connolly‘Fashion With An Irish Brogue’: The Life And Legacy Of Sybil Connolly
of models wearing Sybil's fashions
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Sybil
1921 births
1998 deaths
Irish fashion designers
Businesspeople from Dublin (city)
People from Swansea
Irish women fashion designers
British expatriates in Ireland
Artists from Dublin (city)