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. The couple had seven daughters. Career Mulcahy returned to Dublin in 1952 and opened a couture workshop in South Frederick Street with three employees whom she trained. She received an award from Elsa Schiaparelli in 1953 as part of the National Agricultural and Industrial Development Association show (NAIDA). In 1955 she presented her first collection in the drawing room of her family home in Lissenfield, Rathmines, launching her career to great acclaim. Her clothes were denoted by her reworking of traditional Irish fabrics like wool and tweed, a common theme in Irish couture of the 1950s. Mulcahy worked with William McNutt of the McNutt Weaving Company and Emily Wynne of Avoca Handweavers on new colours, finishes, and techniques of linen and tweed. She designed tailored wool suits which were known for being easy to wear and had simple designs. Mulcahy insisted that like men, women's suits needed pockets. She used fine knitted or woven woollen materials by Michael McInerny, London, using bright colours that were more popular in the United States than Ireland. Her aunt, Phyllis Ryan wore Mulcahy's dresses and ballgowns while