Edward Henry Molyneux () (5 September 1891 – 23 March 1974) was a leading British
fashion designer
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
whose salon in Paris was in operation from 1919 until 1950. He was characterised as a modernist designer who played with the refinements of couture style, a modernist aesthetic, and the desire to be socially and culturally advanced.
Early life
Edward Molyneux was born on 5 September 1891 in
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
, London, to Justin Molyneux and Lizzy Kenny. He was of Irish and French
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
ancestry. His uncle was Major
Edward Mary Joseph Molyneux, who became known for his paintings of the
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
region. Edward was educated at
Beaumont College
Beaumont College was between 1861 and 1967 a public school in Old Windsor in Berkshire. Founded and run by the Society of Jesus, it offered a Roman Catholic public school education in rural surroundings, while lying, like the neighbouring Eto ...
, a Roman Catholic
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
. Owing to the death of his father, he left school at the age of 16 to support himself and his mother while pursuing his ambitions as a painter and illustrator.
Career
Molyneux found employment as a sketch artist for the London edition of the American magazine ''
The Smart Set
''The Smart Set'' was an American literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Mencken and G ...
'', where his drawings of fashionable women attracted the attention of the celebrated couturier
Lucile (in private life Lady Duff Gordon). She hired him as a sketcher in her London salon in 1910 and by the end of the following year had promoted him to assistant designer at her Paris branch. He also worked for Lucile in New York.
On the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he joined the British Army's
Duke of Wellington's Regiment
The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division.
In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...
with which he fought in the
Battle of Arras. He attained the rank of captain but lost his sight in one eye. For a time, he worked in the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
's signals intelligence unit,
Room 40
Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War.
The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
. He returned to work for Lucile after being invalided out of the war but a disagreement with her resulted in the termination of his contract in 1919.
Molyneux opened his own fashion house in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
at 14
rue Royale
Rue Royale (French for "Royal Street") may refer to several streets:
*Rue Royale, Brussels, Belgium
*Rue Royale, Lyon, France
* Rue Royale, Paris, France
See also
* Royal Street, New Orleans, United States
*Royal Road (disambiguation) The Royal ...
in November 1919 (later, 5 rue Royale), expanding to
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
in 1925,
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
in 1927, and London in 1932. The designer quickly became known for an impeccably refined simplicity. Molyneux was, as historian Caroline Milbank wrote, "the designer to whom a fashionable woman would turn if she wanted to be absolutely right without being utterly predictable in the Twenties and Thirties".
[Caroline Rennolds Milbank, ''Couture: The Great Designers'' (1985), p. 144.] Frowning on superfluous decoration, he regularly dressed European royals, including
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.
He was also a favourite with trendsetting actresses including
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, ...
,
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
,
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York.
Early life
Lawrence was born Gertr ...
,
Margaret Leighton
Margaret Leighton, CBE (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English actress, active on stage and television, and in film. Her film appearances included (her first credited debut feature) in Anatole de Grunwald's ''The Winslow Boy'' ( ...
, and
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...
. Protegés included future couturiers
Christian Dior
Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...
and
Pierre Balmain
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain (; 18 May 1914 – 29 June 1982) was a French fashion designer and founder of leading post-war fashion house Balmain (fashion house), Balmain. Known for sophistication and elegance, he described the art of dre ...
, and he was friends with playwright
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he moved his firm to London for the duration of the conflict and returned to Paris in 1946. Retiring in 1950, Molyneux left his fashion house in the hands of
Jacques Griffe
Jacques Griffe (1909-1996) was a French couturier and fashion designer.
Biography
Griffe was born in Carcassonne, France. He died in 1996.
Fashion career
Griffe served an apprenticeship for a tailor in Carcassonne, before relocating to Toulouse ...
. He resumed designing in 1964, opening Studio Molyneux, a high quality ready-to-wear line that received mixed reviews. During this period ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine described him as "the Parisian equivalent of Manhattan's
Mainbocher
Mainbocher is a fashion label founded by the American couturier Main Rousseau Bocher (October 24, 1890 – December 27, 1976), also known as Mainbocher (pronounced "Maine-Bow-Shay"). Established in 1929, the house of Mainbocher successfully ope ...
, a classicist devoted to the soft look and tailored line". He retired for a second time in 1969.
Art
Molyneux painted throughout his life, and exhibitions of his paintings were held at the Galerie Weill in Paris (between 1950 and 1956) and at the
Hammer Galleries
Victor J. Hammer (November 1, 1901 – July 21, 1985) was a businessman, founder and owner of Hammer Galleries in New York City, and philanthropist.
Early life and education
Hammer was born in New York City, to Ukrainian Jews, Ukrainian-born ...
in New York (1967). Here, "Carnations in Vase" was purchased by the
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
and
Duchess of Windsor
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...
, and "Roses in Glass" by Greta Garbo.
Molyneux also amassed an extensive
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
art collection, including paintings by
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
,
Manet
A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...
and 17 by
Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...
. In 1955 they were sold as a lot to
Ailsa Mellon Bruce
Ailsa Mellon Bruce (June 28, 1901 – August 25, 1969) was a prominent American socialite and philanthropist who established the Avalon Foundation.
Early life
Ailsa was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 28, 1901. She was the daughter of t ...
, who in 1969 bequeathed the collection to the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Personal life
Molyneux had a complicated personal life. One of his early relationships was with
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
diplomat
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West.
Early lif ...
, who helped finance the opening of the designer's first Paris salon. Although married to writer
Vita Sackville-West
Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH (née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer.
Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as wel ...
, Nicolson was open with her about his affairs, including his fling with Molyneux.
[Victoria Glendinning, ''Vita: The Life of V. Sackville-West'' (1983), p. 106.] In 1923 Molyneux married (Jessie) Muriel Dunsmuir (1890–1951), one of eight daughters of the Hon.
James Dunsmuir
James Dunsmuir (July 8, 1851 – June 6, 1920) was a Canadian industrialist and politician in British Columbia. He served as the 14th premier of British Columbia from 1900 to 1902 and the eighth lieutenant governor of British Columbia from 19 ...
, Premier of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. They divorced in 1924.
Death
Molyneux died on 23 March 1974 in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
.
Legacy
Following Molyneux's retirement in 1969, Studio Molyneux continued under the direction of his cousin John Tullis until it closed in 1977.
The Molyneux trademark is owned by French company ''Parfums
Berdoues
Berdoues (; oc, Berdoas) is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.
Geography
Population
Economy
*Parfums Berdoues () is a French company created by Guillaume Berdoues in 1902. Berdoues is known for its violet fragranc ...
'', and though the fashion component of the firm remains dormant, the firm still produces scents, such as "Captain" (1975), "Quartz" (1978), "Le Chic", "Vivre", "I Love You" and "Quartz Pure Red" (2008).
Trivia
In series 5 episode 3 of the television series ''
Downton Abbey
''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on P ...
'', the character of Cora, Countess of Grantham, mentions a fitting with Molyneux as a reason for a trip to London.
References
Further reading
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molyneux, Edward
British fashion designers
1891 births
1974 deaths
People from Hampstead
LGBT fashion designers
20th-century British painters
British people of French descent
British people of Irish descent
20th-century LGBT people