Lucille
(1863-1935)
Lady Duff Gordon was born Lucy Christiana Sutherland in 1863 in London, England. After her divorce in 1890, Lucile found herself penniless and with a child, and began a dressmaking business from her home. In 1894, she moved her business to a shop in London naming it Maison Lucile. In 1903, she incorporated the business as “Lucile, Ltd,” which she founded with the help of her new husband Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon. Sir Duff-Gordon had a savvy business sense and helped Lucile with the business. Lucile became famously known as Lady Duff Gordon. His noble title also helped Lucile’s acceptance at court.
Lucile opened branches of Lucile Ltd. in New York (1910) and Paris (1911), and Chicago (1915). Her smartest licensing venture was a lower-priced, mail-order fashion line for Sears & Roebuck which published her clothing in pretty catalogs. The catalogs focused on the middle-class woman with upper-class aspirations.Lucile was most famous for her tea gowns, made in flimsy gauzes, taffetas, poplins and silks. She considered herself to have revolutionized women's underwear by refining the corset to make it less restrictive. She is also associated with the promotion of colored underwear; the use of models, subtle soft color schemes of predominantly pastel shades; and orientally inspired, romantic dresses which were particularly suited for eveningwear. She was also known for her formal ball gowns covered in lace and beads.
In 1917 she was involved in the case Wood vs. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, wherein the judge stripped her of the use of her own name after she contracted the sole right to market her name to her advertising agent. Lady Duff-Gordon briefly resurrected her design career with a ready-to-wear collection, and remained influential as a fashion columnist. Lucile had always written a weekly syndicated fashion page for the Hearst newspapers (1910–22) and monthly columns for Harper's Bazaar and Good Housekeeping magazines (1912–22). She continued as a fashion columnist and critic after her active career ended.
Lucile opened branches of Lucile Ltd. in New York (1910), Paris (1911), and Chicago (1915). She completed her memoirs titled "Discretions and indiscretions " in 1932. Lady Duff Gordon sold her business in 1918. She died in 1935, at the age of seventy-one.
