Born: Honiton, England, 1901
Died: Windsor, England, 1979
In 1939 Vogue made the following assessment of royal couturier Norman Hartnell: `He discovered the lost arts of femininity, and in the arid angularity of the `twenties, he launched a new, de luxe woman, poised, svelte and soignée: subtle rather than snappy.'
Romanticism was Hartnell's signature, and was perfectly suited to Cecil Beaton's Winterhalter-inspired images of the Windsors surrounded by garlands of flowers and an air of mystique. Hartnell's distinguished career started at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his costumes and posters for the amateur dramatic societies received favourable reviews and caught the imagination of Lady Diana Duff-Cooper, who persuaded him to exchange academia for the more insecure world of haute couture. He took a job for £3 per week with the court dressmaker Madame Desirée and was sacked three months later. Undeterred, in 1923 he opened his own dressmaking studio at 10 Bruton Street, London, with his sister, three workgirls, a sewing machine and £300 capital from his father. He took his collection to Paris in 1927.
Appointed dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth in 1937, Hartnell excelled at grand occasions - he designed the gown worn by the Queen Mother for the portrait by Cecil Beaton (opposite) and two royal wedding dresses. The first, for Princess Elizabeth in 1947, was embroidered with 10,000 seed pearls and diamonds and was described by Vogue as `ivory satin, starred with Botticelli-like delicacy and richness with pearl and crystal roses, wheat, orange blossom'. The second, for Princess Margaret's wedding to the then photographer Tony Armstrong Jones in 1960, was probably the most beautiful royal wedding dress ever made, a masterpiece in white silk organza, which silenced the critics who said Hartnell's forte was glitz. He designed the Queen's historic white satin coronation dress of 1952, which was embroidered with emblems of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, including a Welsh leek and a Canadian maple leaf. `It is not sensible to be too sensible in fashion, nor is it smart to be too smart,' he commented in 1964. Royals apart, Hartnell's clientele included Merle Oberon, Marlene Dietrich, Evelyn Laye and Gertrude Lawrence. In 1977 Hartnell was awarded Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order - the first time a couturier had been honoured with the Queen's personal gift of knighthood. He was responsible for the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother for over half a century.
In 1987, eight years after the death of its founder, the house was acquired by former Moss Bros chief executive, Manny Silverman, who initially brought in British designer Murray Arbeid and, later, Victor Edelstein. In June 1990 Silverman persuaded Marc Bohan, ex-head of Dior for 28 years, to move to Hartnell. His first Hartnell collection was unveiled in January 1991 to great acclaim. Unfortunately, even the seasoned skills and considerable talent of Bohan could not save Hartnell and its salon in Bruton Street, closed in November 1992.
