Lady Lucy Duff GordonLady Lucy Duff Gordon, a woman of immense fashion influence and success, was born in 1863 in the Channel Islands of Canada. This woman’s long and storied career allowed her to make an everlasting mark on the fashion industry. Opening her first shop in London in 1894 as a source of income to support her daughter, her designs represented the personal psychology of each woman wearing her clothing. In 1900 her business began booming, and by 1910 she expanded her business to the fashion capital of the world, Paris, and New York. Lady Lucy Duff Gordon was best known for tailoring her clothes to have just the right cut, color, and style to reflect each individual client’s personality. Gordon herself suggested that she tried to match each garment to the individual woman: “Boudoir gowns, as I design them, are glimpses into a woman’s soul.” Her gift allowed her to become one of the greatest influences in the history of the fashion world, as well as one of the largest American style icons of the time. As stated by Constance Peel, the women’s page editor for the London Daily Mail in the 1900’s, “diaphanous garments were introduced to society by Madame Lucile”. This imperious woman insisted upon making simple attire with close attention to detail, capturing the essence of the women wearing the clothing. Gordon was also famed for making large picture hats that set off a fad during the Edwardian-era. Her downfall began in 1917 after a court case regarding exclusive rights to market garments bearing her endorsements. She violated the deal she made with Otis F. Wood, the New York advertising agent she signed the rights to, by beginning a project with Sears to market “clothes for the masses” (affordable clothing for the lower and low-middle classes). Shortly after the case closed, The House of Lucile began to collapse. Following World War 1 her styles were not as popular or found as fashionable, but her legacy and style house will forever have an impact on the world of fashion and the United States during this era.
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