History
The Grafton Academy of Dress Designing was the first Fashion Design College in Ireland, founded in 1938 by Pauline Clotworthy, a pioneer in the Irish Fashion Industry.
In April 2008, The Grafton Academy celebrated its 70th Anniversary with a fashion Show of Grafton Academy Alumni and emerging young designers.
Pauline Elizabeth Keller Clotworthy was born in Dublin in 1912. From 1931-33, she went to the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where Sean Keating told her not to make the life class studies into fashion drawings. 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 water colour, all kinds of fabrics and textures. Back in Dublin, she showed her drawings to Ronald Nesbitt of Arnotts who advised her to return to London to learn how to make the patterns for her designs. She then attended the British Institute with such fellow students as Hardy Amies who later became the Queens couturier.Before graduating in May 1938, she wrote to her father outlining a plan for the school she was to set up later that year. Within a year she had staged her first fashion show and even through the war years, the school was thriving.
In 1950, Ronald Nesbitt of Arnotts wrote "As you know all our designers in the Dress Trade in this country must have received their formal education from you and your staff - it is hard to overestimate the value of your work".
Neilli Mulcahy, Ib Jorgensen and Clodagh, all early graduates of the Grafton Academy, had formed the Irish Haute Couture Group which made a significant contribution in promoting Ireland abroad. Through the years students have won many awards in both national and international competitions. Numerous graduates have set up companies, some now operating with offshore facilities.