Born: London, England, 1862
Died: London, England, 1935
A single mother in an era when divorce was associated with disgrace, Lucile Duff Gordon had a colourful personal life, a high profile and a 21-inch waist in 1899. Married at 18, she was divorced by her mid-twenties with a 5-year-old daughter, Esme. In 1900 she met and married Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, whose social connections invariably helped her client list.
Lucile, as she was known, advocated the elimination of the corset, a return to Grecian lines, and put colour into hair years before punk. Although Paul Poiret pioneered the new silhouette, Lucile promoted the Empire line. She broke into the American market, made theatrical designs and met Emmeline Pankhurst when she was advocating votes for women. Sister to novelist Elinor Glyn and pioneer of her time, Lady Duff Gordon came to the conclusion that women should be seen but not heard. In her autobiography, Discretions and Indiscretions, published in 1932, she writes, `I do not think that, on the whole, it is good for a woman with a temperament. It is much better for her to be a vegetable, and certainly much safer, but I never had a choice.'
