Lady Duff-Gordon and Her Creations for Fashionable Women

Lady Duff Gordon and her Creations for Fashionable Women.
Lucile, an apostle of New Ideas, on the attitude to fashion.
Lady Duff Gordon is a firm believer in the good that New Ideas do. Indeed, she draws inspiration for each of the fashionable looks that she creates from this source of novelty. “Sometimes I find that there are no ideas in my head. The colors of the rainbow are in front of my eyes, and the more I think about what I can come up with to combine these colors into a dress that will be worthy of the select community of my clients, the less the challenge feels surmountable, and at some point, everything turns into a chaos. This is what I call a crisis, and I make a short stop in order to enable new ideas to come to me.
Come on, new original idea! It will be life-saving. Give me a fresh idea! I pray so hard that something will come and help me, that a new idea will let me take a look at my fabric and colors with the eyes of a genius. And a new idea comes. Bakst may be the one to inspire me; his paintings are on the walls of my workshop.
An idea can take shape of a luxury peignoir with Oriental motifs and bold colorful ornaments, in other words, yet again in the barbarian abundance of the Old Orient that generates sensations and creates a certain aura around the one who puts on the attire that you will never have if you use habitual materials for ball gowns.
So I begin with my model posing in front of me on the catwalk, and with my fabrics and accessories at hand. I barely even notice the passage of time; in fact, I forget about everything, except for the dress that I’m working on. I can pin and drape for hours.
Lady Duff Gordon, known to everyone as Lucile, is one of the most popular ladies in the world of fashion. In a span of several years, she conquered the heights that rarely appear attainable for women from the artistic environment. She is a business lady to the marrow of her bones and her artistic preferences are underpinned by great commercial intuition, on which Lucile relied so many times in her creative work during the first days of her evolution, when she had no firm standing in the world of fashion. This lady currently shines as a company head; there is no need for her to tackle money matters, and she can afford to create luxury items made of priceless materials from all corners of the world for her personal enjoyment, without paying heed to their cost and asking herself whether they will be sold for the incredible amounts that should be asked for them.
Her studio is an ideal workplace. Any sculptor or artist would be proud to call it their own. Located in a quiet portion of the factory, it is far from the hustle and everyday routine. The entrance to the studio is the inconspicuous spiral staircase that no one dares use without Lucile’s explicit permission. And then a true treasury opens to us. The walls are occupied with shelves filled with fabrics placed in series. In one section, there are all shades of blue — from pale to deep and intense midnight blue. Any other color would also be presented in its diversity.
Because Lucile dresses women across the globe, she enables a fashionable lady from New York to wear a model similar to that of her British or French sister, because she looks at her creations with equal impartiality. “A dress must characterize the one who wears it,” says Lucile. “However, the one who wears it must also characterize the dress. I believe that I make my women feminine and attractive. This is the first thing that I think of. I’m not a fan of following the latest fashions and I’m indifferent when it comes to the prescribed waistline — high or low. The only thing I truly care about is the creation of something making my client literally irresistible.”
Lucile believes the straight silhouette to be suitable for outer garments. There should be no exaggerations in attire, and to further ensure the desirable effect of a dress, the color of garments should be neutral and in harmony with the environment. In autumn and winter, Lady Duff Gordon prefers the brown hues of fallen leaves and darker and subdued shades in tune with winter dusk. In spring and summer, more vivid colors are acceptable. However, they must never come into conflict with the environment, because a woman who becomes conspicuous in a town street cannot be dressed well. At the moment, Lucile dresses fans of her talent in blue, brown, and grey tones of ratine or tweed.
Asked about the fashion of the future, she sighed. “Everything is in the hands of God. It depends on the woman that will be wearing the dress, and as far as colors are concerned, I love each color, and they all appear in a new light every time I see them. Sometimes I’m impressed by one color, and sometimes by a totally different one. As a rule, I combine them and generally use fifteen or twenty shades in a single dress.”
Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff Gordon