An eagle eyed client (thanks Laura!) sent me this picture of an official White House portrait of the beautiful Jacqueline Kennedy. In it she is wearing a Sybil Connolly pleated linen full length skirt. Which just happens to be the twin of the one I have for sale right now in the shop!
Sybil Connolly was an designer from Ireland and her designs where sought after by the upper crust and A-list actresses of her day. Having the First Lady as a fan certainly did not hurt either! She was a huge proponent of Irish textiles and used the tweeds, woollens and most notably, Irish linen in her work. She developed a technique where she used the fine handkerchief linen and folded it into soft, subtle pleats — it took a full nine yards of linen to make just one yard of her pleated material. On top of that she lined up the pleats — making even more yardage used in the final garments. It was a meticulous, time consuming and over the top method and the resulting pieces are astounding!
I am very lucky to have several pieces of her work in the shop at the moment and all are in astounding, mint condition.They are true pieces of art in my opinion and it is an honor to be able to share her work with you!
Shop the Sybil Connolly selection at Shrimpton Couture here