Albeck, (Judith) Patricia [Pat] (1930–2017), textile designer, was born on 17 March 1930 at 33 Linnaeus Street, Hull, Yorkshire, the youngest of four daughters of Jewish immigrants, Max Albeck (1889/90–1960), furrier, and his wife Sarah, née Freedman...
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Sir (Edwin) Hardy Amies (1909–2003) by Brian Griffin, 1976 © Brian Griffin; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
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Amies, Sir (Edwin) Hardy (1909–2003), dressmaker and fashion designer, was born on 17 July 1909 at 70 Delaware Mansions, Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale, London, the elder son and eldest of the three children of Herbert William Amies, a surveyor for London county council...
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Elizabeth C. Sanderson
Anderson, Janet (1697–1761), milliner and maker of graveclothes, was born on 1 January 1697 and baptized in Edinburgh two days later. She was the daughter of James Anderson (1662–1728), clerk to the signet and author of Diplomata Scotiae, and Jean Ellis or Ellies (...
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Janet Arnold (1932–1998) by unknown photographer © reserved; private collection; photograph National Portrait Gallery, London
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Santina M. Levey
Arnold, Janet (1932–1998), costume historian, was born on 6 October 1932 at Duncan House, Clifton Down Road, Bristol, the only child of Frederick Charles Arnold (1898–1976), ironmonger, and his wife, Adeline, née Jacob (1895–1985), a nurse, daughter of the Revd Thomas Jacob and his wife, ...
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Laura Ashley (1925–1985) by Philip Sayer, early 1980s © Philip Sayer; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
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Emlyn Hooson
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Ashley [née Mountney], Laura (1925–1985), dress designer and interior decorator, was born on 7 September 1925 at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tudful, south Wales, the eldest of the four children (two daughters and two sons) of Stanley Lewis Mountney, a civil servant, of ...
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Barron, (Mabel) Phyllis (1890–1964), designer and textile printer, was born on 19 March 1890 in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, the younger of two daughters of Walter Barron and his wife, Alice Maud Marguerite, formerly Clark, of Taplow House, Taplow. She was to describe her family as '...
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Philippa Glanville
Benney, (Adrian) Gerald Sallis (1930–2008), goldsmith and silversmith, was born at 56 Westbourne Avenue, Sculcoates, Hull, on 21 April 1930, the younger son of Ernest Alfred Sallis Benney (1894–1966), an artist and designer who was then principal of the City of Hull College of Arts and Crafts...
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Isabella Blow (1958–2007) by Mario Testino, 1998 Mario Testino / Art Partner; hat by Philip Treacy
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Edwina Ehrman
Blow, Isabella [née Isabella Delves Broughton] (1958–2007), fashion journalist and stylist, was born on 19 November 1958 at the London Clinic, 20 Devonshire Place, Westminster, the eldest child in the family of three daughters and a son of Major Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton, ...
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Sandra Betty Blow (1925–2006) by Roger Mayne, 1966 © Roger Mayne / National Portrait Gallery, London
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Blow, Sandra Betty (1925–2006), painter and collagist, was born on 14 September 1925, at 64 Manor Road, Stoke Newington, London, the only daughter of Jacob (Jack) Blow, a fruit wholesaler at Spitalfields market in Shoreditch, and his wife, Leah (Lily), née Rubinstein. She was of Jewish descent. Her brothers, ...
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Leigh Bowery (1961–1994) by Lucian Freud, 1991 © Lucian Freud / Tate, London, 2004
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Bowery, Leigh (1961–1994), designer and performance artist, was born in Sunshine, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, on 26 March 1961, the son of Tom Bowery, accountant, and his wife, Evelyn (d. 1994). Born into a middle-class family, he was an intelligent and confident boy who excelled at school and achieved grade 8 at piano. Highly creative, he learned to knit and crochet at a young age and went on to study fashion at the ...
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Bridge, John (1755–1834), jeweller, was born in Piddletrenthide, Dorset, on 21 January 1755, the eldest son of Thomas Bridge (d. 1792) and his wife, Mary (d. 1779). Following in the footsteps of his future partner, Philip Rundell, he was apprenticed in 1769 to the jeweller ...
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Brooker [née Beacon], Daphne Elizabeth (1927–2012), model and fashion teacher, was born on 8 June 1927 at the Ormond Maternity Home, 29 Blantyre Street, Chelsea, London, the elder child and only daughter of Charles Beacon, chauffeur, and his wife, Mabel Elizabeth, née...
