Neillí Mulcahy

Neillí Mulcahy (27 February 1925 – 6 May 2012) 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, who 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 prominent figures in early Irish independence. Her aunts academic Mary Kate Ryan and chemist Phyllis Ryan were the first and second wives of Seán T. O'Kelly, second President of Ireland and her uncle was politician James Ryan. Mulcahy was educated at 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 at 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.

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 one 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.

Death and legacy Mulcahy donated her archive to the National Museum of Ireland. In 1996, her work was featured in an exhibition in the Ulster Museum curated by Elizabeth McCrum. The National Museum exhibited a retrospective of her work in 2007. She died on 6 May 2012 in Dublin and is buried in Mount Venus cemetery.