CONNOLLY Sybil (Designer)

Photographed in her Dublin home, the model wears a dress made from her famous pleated linen. The tailored shawl covers a simple bodice and typically understated skirt. The doyenne of Irish fashion in the 1950s, Connolly specialized in adapting traditional Irish fabrics for modern, easy dressing. Her forward-thinking designs transformed thick mohair, Donegal tweed and linen, which she hand-pleated for delicate blouses and dresses. Like her American contemporary, Claire McCardell, she was a pioneer in the creation of smart shapes that used informal fabrics and a relaxed attitude during the 1950s and 1960s. Connolly moved to London to learn dress design, but returned to Ireland upon the outbreak of the Second World War. At the age of twenty-two she became design director of the Irish fashion house Richard Alan, going on to launch her own couture label in 1957 at the age of thirty-six. 

Also look up for Leser, McCardell, Maltézos