Spotlight on Sybil Connolly + New Arrivals

After fifteen years in the business, I thought I knew them all. That is, all the female fashion designers whose names never reached top levels of recognition, for one reason or another. 

But it took a last-minute, tailgate style buying appointment at a parking lot in the North suburbs to acquaint me with Sybil Connolly. 

I acquire vintage in a multitude of ways, and sometimes it's from a trunk of a car.  I rarely know what to expect. I ended up pulling pieces by Chloe, Ungaro, and Giorgio Saint Angelo, but when I came across a high quality, black striped, gray wool, three piece, I noticed that the tailoring was superior but the name "Sybil Connolly" meant nothing to me. In fact, I thought it might have been the original owner's name as it was not uncommon in that midcentury for a local seamstress to sew in her own name as a mark of craftsmanship. 

Once at home and a quick google search later, revealed that my, three-piece cutie bore the name of a legendary designer known for working with traditional Irish fabric in innovative ways. 

 






So, of course I plunged into the research and was delighted to discover that Sybil Connolly (1921-1998) is lauded as a cultural hero in Ireland, where her legacy is honored in The Hunt Museum which has  been successfully mounting a campaign to conserve her couture pieces.




 I also learned that Jackie Kennedy wore a Connolly for her official, painted portrait, hanging  in the White House (a nod to her then husband's Irish roots?).



In 2011, the artist, Aaron Shikler gave an interview discussing how there were two versions of the portrait and the pivotal role that the costume played.

The article states that "The painting in the White House was actually the second portrait he completed; he had decided the first was too dark. The “lightness” in the second -- the ethereal pink-beige gown the first lady is wearing -- didn’t actually exist. “The top is the top she was wearing, but she had a huge skirt underneath,” Shikler explained. “I decided to bring the shirt down, thinning her out a little.”

The original "too dark" portrait is also quite stunning, and housed in a private collection. Note the skirt she wears is one of the hallmark pieces of Sibyl Connolly, constructed out of multiple layers Irish, handkerchief linen that were hand pleated and backed by taffeta.



I was surprised and pleased to see how lauded Connolly was online and ended up
having to create a Pinterest board to keep track of her designs, which range from the early 50s to the late 70s.