CREATOR OF GOWNS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 162, 25 June 1935, Page 10

CREATOR OF GOWNS

Lady Duff Gordon's Death

Lucillo (Lady Duff Gordon) has just died in a nursing home at Putney at the age of 71, and her passing has revived many memories of the development of the dress industry. She was one of the first society women to make a success of a big business venture, and she lived to see hundreds of hat-and-gown shops springing up in her wake and run by women of social position.

As a child she not only designed, and made dresses for her own dolls, but she established a “clientele'’ among her friends, dressing their dolls in return for pieces of silk or velvet. With her sister, Mrs. Elinor Glyn, the novelist, she created a furore when she “came out” in the ’eighties in London. At 18 she married Mr. J. S. Wallace, and five years later, when she divorced her husband, she was forced to earn money to keep herself and her little daughter. At first Lucillo cut and sewed the garments in her own home in Mayfair. Six months later she employed four girls. Then she went to Hanover Square, and when the firm of Lucille was at the height of its fame there were some 5000 workers. Forty thouhand pounds a year was the income of her firm for many years. When one learns that she sometimes sold a single hat for as much as £6OO one can better understand it! One of her greatest successes was the “Merry Widow” hat, which was designed for Lily Elsie. This took London by storm, and was one of the most successful modes ever launched. She introduced diaphanous and silk underwear to replace nun’s veiling and linen; abolished high boned necks and introduced “Peter Pan” and “Quaker” collars; let the world know that women had “legs”; and, as a final touch of originality, gave names to her creations.

The first mannequin parades ever held took place in the little garden behind Lady Duff Gordon’s Hanover Square shop. It was an honour to be selected as a mannequin at Lucille's. Not only beauty of face and figure, but distinction of ‘ bearing, was insisted on by this strong-minded little autocrat. Many of her mannequins made rich marriages, since they had the opportunity of coming under the notice of the wealthiest class in England. Before long, Lucille extended her business to Paris and New York. In 1900 she married Sir Cosmo Duff-Cor-don, and in 1922 she severed her connection with her firm.