Michael Donnellan

Early life and career Michael Donnellan was born in Dublin and trained as a surgeon before making the move from medicine to fashion. Although he was attached to a large and respected fashion house, he was already a name in his own right – Michael of Lachasse – and was included among London's "big 10" in a feature in Life in 1953 about the run up to the coronation of Elizabeth II.

He was skilled at spotting nascent fashion looks and was the first to work with the British 'supermodel' Avril James – refining her style and making her his early design 'muse'. James subsequently became one of the most familiar faces in British modelling – working for, among others, John Cavanagh – and became known in the British press as: "the girl who said no to Dior".

Establishment of eponymous label In 1953, Donnellan established his own label – from here on in he was almost universally known as 'Michael of Carlos Place', or simply 'Michael'. His showroom's location – Carlos Place – had previously been the premises of another leading light of the London couture scene Peter Russell, who sold his London business interests to Donnellan prior to emigrating to Australia.

A year later, Michael of Carlos place joined the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc) – although Donnellan had been aligned with IncSoc since 1950 as head of Lachasse.

Brand hallmarks The hallmark of Michael of Carlos Place clothes was their exceptional tailoring, and this attracted clients such as Evelyn Laye and Claudette Colbert as well as many society women. By 1958, he had developed this concept further, also introducing much longer jackets that narrowed towards the hem.

Later career Donnellan was not only a skilled interpreter of couture trends but had "a prescient understanding of fashion change". As hemlines rose and customers moved from couture to ready-to-wear, Donnellan moved too. Although he did not close his couture house until 1971 – a period described by The Times as "fashion anarchy" – he had begun consulting to mainstream and mid-price retailers, notably Marks & Spencer, from the 1960s. In his work for the dynamic mainstream fashion industry that was developing in the UK during this era, he was highly influential. His obituary notes: "he updgraded the cut and cloth of ready-to-wear clothes and became an overall advisor on mass-manufacture style."

While some London couture designers were being criticised by the press by the late 1960s as being out of touch with the fashion trends, Donnellan was still considered influential. A 1970 review of his spring collection notes his skillful presentation of a new silhouette and quoted his guidance that if women didn't show the knees, they must define the hips. The review concluded: "It was a collection for 1970, entirely relevant to now – no nonsense about the twenties, the thirties nor the fifties." Donnellan was well placed to understand the move towards ready-to-wear – especially since he had been working with Marks & Spencer – and had begun including a few readymade items within his own couture shows from 1968, getting them cut and sewn in his Carlos Place workroom and charging around half the price of his couture lines.

Donnellan closed Michael of Carlos Place in 1971; his obituary notes that he didn't blame the market or the times for this, instead citing the shortage of skilled tailors available to British couturiers.