AMERICAN fashion icon Marc Jacobs once said that clothing means nothing until someone lives in them. When Limerick Post reporter Sarah Coleman sat down with Limerick fashion textile designer Mary O’Sullivan, it is this sentiment that immediately sprang to mind.
Matching the rare sunny Limerick weather around us, Mary, founder of Mary O’Sullivan Design, greets me with an infectiously warm smile and a boundless sense of energy that only comes from the satisfaction of devoting oneself to mastering their craft.
Her drive and determination has seen the young artist reach heights of success that she admits her younger self would find hard to believe.
To date, Mary has created work for the British Royal Family and Alexander McQueen. However it is one of her most recent works that has sparked huge praise locally, her design of a bespoke waistcoat featuring her ‘Limerick Toile de Jouy’ print, full of iconic local landmarks, worn by Mayor of Limerick John Moran at his first Mayoral Ball last month.
The remarkable print saw the Mayor emblazoned with iconic local landmarks from King John’s Castle and Thomond Park to Costello’s Tavern and Chicken Hut.
“It was very surreal but an absolute honour, because it’s marking such a milestone for the Mayor both professionally and personally. The fact that I played a part in that moment was really lovely,” Mary reflected.
The print came to life when Mary set out to create something that captures the essence of her hometown. Each print on the Toile de Jouy features a hand-drawn landscape and floral illustrations, made using modern technologies that consume less ink than traditional means.
Visiting King John’s Castle to say hello to Santa as a child, greeting Flan Costello flush with fivers on the way into the iconic establishment, and a mandatory night-out pitstop at Chicken Hut to wash it down were all high on her list of inspirations.
The passing of the late rugby legend Anthony Foley is also marked on the print, as the artist recalls a trip with her father to pay their respects outside Thomond Park.
Mary also took inspiration from her mother Ann, who worked as a nurse for the late Seventh Earl of Lord Dunraven and Mount-Earl in Adare. While Ann worked, Mary regularly visited a nearby apartment where she was immediately drawn to a unique print on the wallpaper and curtains.
“It was kind of like a little cartoon for me as a kid, looking at these peasants working the field and living their life, and it was a very romanticised scene of that time which really stuck with me.”
This memory followed her after finishing college and during the Covid-19 pandemic, when lots of people romanticised their own lives pre-pandemic.
“I think the role of an artist or a designer, or a creative in general, is that we act as a bit of a filter for society. We absorb and take in culture, art, and media, and we put it into this creative blender and turn out the result of that influence,” she tells me.
“I’ve seen the other side of Limerick and what it was known as in the past, but I don’t think that version of Limerick and those connotations are true anymore. It’s a very different place now, and I hope to communicate that to people outside.”
‘My North Star’
Her design has since been spotted on Limerick broadcaster Louise Cantillon and has featured on RTÉ’s Today programme with Daithi O’Shea and Maura Derrane.
After a few gentle nudges from her older brothers, Mary studied art at secondary school before studying fashion at Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD).
It was during her time at LSAD that Mary says her passion for design became undeniable.
“My work is a love letter to the city that raised me, and to the city that is helping me raise my 10-year-old daughter, Lily,” she shares.
Mary, who became pregnant during her studies, fondly describes her daughter Lily her as her “North Star”.
“It was single-handedly the most transformative event to ever happen to me. I think being a parent, no matter what age you are or what economic background you come from, is always going to have its trials.
“People ask me how I balance it all, but it’s because my daughter is my North Star, everything I do is for her. I’m creating work to provide for her and to create something that I can leave behind for her,” she explains, welling up.
And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree either, as Lily is already helping out with her own designs in the studio.
As for what’s next for Limerick’s next top fashion icon, Mary casually informs me that she is leaving her day job to start her own business and focus on releasing new material later this year.
As we finish our coffees, as if she didn’t have enough on her hectic plate already, Mary insists that I, and Limerick Post readers, come along to one of her embroidery workshops to learn a thing or two. No better woman to do it too!
