The first exhibition dedicated to the work of the late Sybil Connolly who pioneered Irish fashion design in the 1950s is to open at Limerick's Hunt Museum next week.
The exhibition's curator, Ms Fiona Davern, amassed a collection of up to 80 items following an appeal through The Irish Times. "We got a lot of responses from people who had bought clothes from her."
Ms Davern said the exhibition, which opens on Friday and continues until September, would provide a particular view of life in the 1950s when Ms Connolly came to prominence. She had projected a glamorous, romantic and refined image, Ms Davern said, and later graduated to do ceramic designs for Tiffany's.
"We will have 13 outfits and examples of her ceramics and glassware, fabrics and wallpaper." Sybil Connolly died in 1998 at the age of 77. Born in Wales and trained in London, she established herself as a designer in Dublin in the early 1950s. International success followed and one of her designs appeared on the cover of Life magazine in 1953.
"The surprising thing about it is how famous she was. In America, she was considered with all the top designers. She really put Ireland on the fashion map in America," Ms Davern said.
Sybil Connolly used traditional Irish fabrics and incorporated crochet and lace designs. She also drew much of her inspiration from 19th century Irish motifs, particularly the flower collages designed by Mary Delaney. Ms Davern added. She has been in touch with Mr John Connolly, a nephew of Sybil's, and her butler, Mr James Sheridan, who worked for her for more than three decades.
Among the items donated for the exhibition are scrapbooks with press cuttings and telegrams, brochures and fashion magazines featuring her work.
A number of photographs evocative of the period will also be on show, including one lent by Suzanne Macdougald, owner of the Solomon Gallery in Dublin, showing her modelling one of Sybil Connolly's pleated linen designs .
One of her customers was Ms Jackie Kennedy Onassis, who wore a Connolly-designed blouse and dress for an official portrait in the White House.
Ms Davern added that the exhibition had originally been conceived as a permanent one but, for space reasons, a temporary one was deemed more suitable.
"We were given a donation of her design sketches shortly after her death.
"Also, Gertrude Hunt was a friend and client of hers. That is why we decided to have the exhibition in the first place." The private collection of the late Ms Hunt and her husband, John, forms the basis of the Hunt Museum which opened five years ago.