Grafton Academy

One of my main missions here on Ruaruth is to talk about  Irish fashion history and its connection to the people and places of  Dublin and Ireland. I hope to reveal the amazing stories and personalities which make up the patchwork of Irish Fashion history, something, I feel we should be celebrating .

And so to start the new year I will begin with  the story of one of the most important places where the Irish design community learned their trade in the 20th century- The Grafton Academy. This wonderful school has been at the heart of the Irish fashion business for over 75 years. Started by a pioneering woman called Pauline Clotworthy in 1938. Her teaching and school has trained some of our most notable designers- from Louise Kennedy, Paul Costello and Ib Jorgensen.

The story of The Grafton Academy is the story of one woman’s passion and verve for life which still continues in the ethos of the school today. I met Suzanne Marr- Pauline’s daughter one blustery autumn day at number 6 Herbert Place to hear the history of  a remarkable woman and a remarkable school.

Ruaruth: Suzanne can you tell me about your mother and the beginnings of The Grafton Academy?

Suzanne: My mother Pauline Elizabeth Keller Clotworthy was born in Dublin in 1912. She was always drawing in fashion at school and from a very young age. There is one very interesting little drawing I found amongst all her things. I think she did it when she was aged about 10-12 and it’s the most sophisticated little fashion drawing. (See pictured above). I think its quite amazing. After school she wanted to have a job in fashion. In a way, this attitude was beyond her time because it was very unusual for women when they left school to have a career. From 1931-33, she went to the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where  a tutor there- Sean Keating told her not to make the life class studies into fashion drawings. But, having always a plan in mind, that was exactly what she wanted to do, so she went to the Browns Paris School of Fashion in London where she was taught the art of representing in watercolour,  fashion and how to render fabrics and textures.

Ruaruth: What happened next?

Suzanne: Well, she got a good portfolio together and she came back to Dublin  and showed her fashion drawings to Ronald Nesbitt of Arnotts and asked him for a job. He said to her to learn how to make patterns for her designs. At the time there was nowhere to study in Ireland so she went back to London. She then attended the British Institute with such fellow students as Hardy Amies and Norman Hartnell who later became the Queens couturiers.  I found a letter she wrote a letter to her father towards the end of the course saying she had written a complete programme for the curriculum of her own school. She was completely focused on this idea and she got advice from the tutors at the British Institute.

Ruaruth: How did the school start?

Suzanne: She came back to Dublin in 1938 and looked for premises – and started in rooms which are now Topshop, rooms that look over Stephen’s Green. That’s why it was called The Grafton Academy. Her father gave her a certain amount of money to start it up. She didn’t do things in a lavish style at all. All she wanted was the bare necessities –tables and chairs and dress stands to start up the school. She was a very practical person and in the beginning she taught everything pattern-drafting design, sewing and millinery. Within a year she had staged her first fashion show and even through the war years, the school was thriving.

Ruaruth: Her father must have been a very progressive man also?

Suzanne: Whether he believed in her or not he certainly was very tolerant. She was determined and really it was a family of solicitors and was outside the norm.

Ruaruth: What was the ethos of the school?

Suzanne: She wanted always a very, very high standard. We have our roots in tailoring as she trained in the class with people like Norman Hartnell the Queen’s couturier and indeed when I went to see the exhibition – the couture exhibition in the V&A and saw their work – coats and dresses I realised how much we do have our roots in tailoring. She had the backing of the British Institute and she did the exams with them so the level was a UK standard.

Ruaruth: What happened next?

Suzanne: She trained her head teachers because the school was expanding a lot even during the war years, which you would think would but the tailgate on it it actually expanded because she was teaching people how to design and make clothes to save money, it was practical but also glamorous.

Ruaruth: Who do you think inspired your Mother’s fashion career?

Suzanne: She always said when she looked back to her childhood her grandmother would go to a dress-maker and they would go to get things upstyled if you like. Hems let down and re-made. But she said she hated this outing. What she really was inspired by was when they would go walking as a family down the East Pier, on the band-stand pier with her Father and look at all the elegant people, parading up and down Dun Laoghaire pier. This show of fashion had the greatest influence on her.

Ruaruth: What kind of a teacher was she?

Suzanne: People used to love her teaching because she was very patient and she would spend hours with her students, she would discuss with them at length about their work. There was just this passion and dedication which was quite separate from money.

Ruaruth: When did your Mother get married?

Suzanne: She set up The Grafton Academy in 1938 and got married in 1939. She started up the school and it prospered  – she had already met my father in London before she set up the school. When the war broke out he joined the Irish army here. He was posted in the Curragh and he was Lieutenant. They lived on the Curragh and she commuted up to Dublin to teach.

Ruaruth: The Grafton Academy has been in many different locations, can you tell me more about them?

Suzanne: Well, as I said earlier it started on Stephens Green and then moved to South Frederick Street. It was a great little street at that time there was Irene Gilbert, Richard Lewis and there were a lot of  designer and dress makers who had little rooms there. We were near Brown Thomas where there was the most fabulous fabrics department. We were always there, I remember Miss Kelly there.  My father set up the business and made benches, we had a couple of different buildings on South Frederick Street- 23. 17 and 18. My mother later took on more rooms in Kildare Street and Leeson Street. I look back on the South Frederick Street days and  think how marvelous and open plan  the place was and how we missed being in the hub and being beside haberdashery when we moved to Herbert Place.

Ruaruth: How did you begin in the business?

Suzanne: I was always fascinated with the place as a child but I went to Trinity and did a BA degree in French, English and Philosophy. I also went to London for a while. I went to the Constance Spry School of Floristry for 3 months.  I went to Paris  for 3 months to study French and I did 3 months of cooking before I came home to get married. I got married in 1966 and started working with my Mother.

Ruaruth: Was she a practical dresser or did she like glamorous evening things?

Suzanne: She was a practical dresser and she wasn’t into image and she was a very shy person and in fact only came out of her shell when she was teaching.

Ruaruth: Did she have a favourite student in her teaching career?

Suzanne: She was genuinely interested in all her students and even if they came from rural areas. She really wanted to get them on and get them to learn and develop their lives. But if I was to pick two of her favourites it would have to be Ib Jorgensen and Paul Costello. She had so much fun with them.

Right to left: Pauline Elizabeth Keller Clotworthy on her wedding day in Dun Laoghaire 1939 and Pauline in a hat designed and made by her own fair hand.