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Irene Gilbert (1908 – 7 August 1985[1])[2] (pronounced "Irini")[3] was born in Thurles, County Tipperary. She was an Irish fashion designer based in Dublin.[4][5][6][7][8] Ireland's first couturier, she was a member of the "Big Three" Irish fashion designers, along with Sybil Connolly and Raymond Kenna/Kay Peterson.[9][10] Designing for royalty and high society,[3] she was famous for her work and friendship with Grace Kelly.[2][6] She was the first woman to run a successful fashion business in Ireland, operating out of a shop on St Stephen's Green on the southside of the city.[6]
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Gilbert was born in Thurles, County Tipperary in 1908.[9][2][11]
Gilbert attended Alexandra College, after which she spent a short amount of time at a Belgian finishing school.[12]
Gilbert's career in the fashion industry began when she ran a dress shop on Wicklow Street in Dublin.[2] She then went to London to train under a court dressmaker, before returning to open a hat shop on Dublin's North Frederick Street in the late 1940s.[2]
Having moved to St Stephen's Green, Gilbert opened a shop there in 1947.[11][13][6] She began selling clothes under her own label from 1950, since her first show took place in Restaurant Jammet.[6] She was known for her work with silk, tweed,[14] linen and Carrickmacross lace.[15][16][3][13][11] Future celebrated designer, Pat Crowley, worked for Gilbert for seven years from 1960, as a designer as well as a sales and marketing specialist.[17][18][19] The quality of the work contributed to Dublin's reputation as a "must stop-over" for the international fashion media.[20] In 1962, Gilbert co-founded the Irish Haute Couture Group with Ib Jorgensen and Nelli Mulcahy.[21]
She designed one of the ten variations of the Aer Lingus uniform.[22]
Gilbert closed the business in 1969 and emigrated to Malta.[13][6] She later moved to Cheltenham in England where she died in 1985.[2]
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Gilbert's creations were prized by Anne, Countess of Rosse whose collection of Gilberts are now curated at Birr Castle.[6] The National Museum of Ireland holds some of her letters and drawings, as well as some of her clothes.[12] In January 2018, Gilbert's life and work was part of an exhibition at the Little Museum of Dublin.[2]
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