Jenny Yvonne "Ginette" Spanier (7 March 1904 – April 1988) was director of the House of Balmain, a Paris fashion-house, and was decorated for her wartime work.

Early life

Spanier, who was Jewish, was born in Paris on 7 March 1904 and raised 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, England and attended Frognal School there.

War years

While in Paris as a

buyer Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or serv ...

for

Fortnum & Mason Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...

, she met Paul-Emile Seidmann, a doctor. In 1939, they married. Shortly afterwards, during

World War II 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 ...

, they fled Nazi-occupied Paris by bicycle. She was subsequently awarded the

Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

for assisting the American Army of Liberation. Seidmann was made a for his work with concentration camp survivors.

Balmain

After the war, the couple lived for many years on Paris' Avenue Maurice, and she became ' (director) at Balmain from 1947 to 1976. The first of her two volumes of autobiography, ''It isn't All Mink'' (1959), had a foreword by

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 ...

, the second volume, ''And Now It's Sables'' (1970), had one by

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", "Louise", " Mimi", and "Thank Hea ...

. Spanier appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on 21 June 1965. The programme was not archived by the BBC, but an unofficial tape copy was among a collection of over 90 episodes discovered by an amateur researcher and placed online in 2022. She was also the guest on ''

This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

'' on 9 February 1972.

Death

She retired, a widow, to London, and died there in April 1988.

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

Newspaper article with photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanier, Ginette 1904 births 1988 deaths People from Hampstead Businesspeople from Paris French expatriates in the United Kingdom French fashion designers French women fashion designers French autobiographers Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism 20th-century French Jews