Fashion Forward: Michele Mulligan ’98 by Samantha Brierley

By: Samantha Brierley

While on vacation in Vietnam in 2006, Michelle Mulligan was captivated by the gorgeous textiles. When Mulligan met a tailor—a seamstress, who supervised 10 male employees and who offered to make any type of clothing Mulligan desired—she ordered some jackets based on her own designs.

When Mulligan returned to Boston, her jackets drew compliments every time she wore one.

Six weeks after her first trip, she returned to Vietnam with a business proposal for the woman who sewed the original jackets. “M and Zen” was born.
With a background in public relations and the travel industry (she continues to work as a flight attendant with American airlines), Mulligan has done a fantastic job learning about fashion design through a combination of passion and trial and error. “Discovering my passion for design has been fun and challenging. I feel like the sky is the limit,” she said.

M and Zen jackets are based on her Mulligan’s love of Asian culture. She uses precious silk—a staple in Vietnam—and cotton and velvet. The name of her business is also inspired by Vietnam: The “M” stands for Michelle and Mulligan, and “Zen” is a practice of the country’s main religion—Buddhism. “I wanted to incorporate East with West,” said Mulligan.

The jacket designs are named after women who have influenced Mulligan. Her favorite is the bestselling “Nora” jacket, a western-style silk jacket. “It is a lot of fun and it brings out the best in people,” she said, adding that the “Gabriel” is another favorite. “It was the first design I came up with and I feel that the jacket is what I built my business on.”

Mulligan – a Troy, N.Y. native, who now lives in Boston, Mass. and La Jolla, Calif. – visits Vietnam two or three times a year to pick out fabrics at the market and meet with her tailor. Her company has grown by word-of-mouth, and her designs are available in high-end boutiques from Saratoga Springs, N.Y. to Los Angeles, Calif.