Marcelle Dormoy Explained

Marcelle Dormoy (1895 - 1976) was a French couture fashion designer active from the 1910s to 1950, and a former model.[1]

Dormoy was born Marie-Léonie Graftieaux, but changed her name to Marcelle Dormoy in 1916 soon after the birth of her son Pierre-Edouard.[2] Graftieaux started out as a mannequin for Paul Poiret, which she credited with helping her learn to "understand the female body."[3] At this time, her grandson has claimed, Graftieaux met Edward, Prince of Wales, probably at Luna Park, Paris and he may have fathered her son.[2] Pierre-Edouard's birth was registered over a year after the event, and the certificate does not identify his father, but in addition to her name change, Dormoy reportedly came into a sum of money that enabled her to set up a dressmaking business.[2] Later, in the mid-1940s when Dormoy's grandson François was born, his mother received an unexplained gift of a Van Cleef & Arpels "cadenas" diamond watch-bracelet made after a design originally commissioned by Edward (now the Duke of Windsor) for his wife Wallis Simpson - a gift that Pierre-Edouard Graftieaux could not have afforded to give his wife.[2]

During the 1920s, Dormoy worked with Vionnet alongside other designers such as Jacques Griffe and Marcelle Chaumont.[4] As première d'atelier, she was head of the workroom at Vionnet until she left to launch her own couture house in December 1928.[5] This date was open to question even while Dormoy was in business, with M.D.C. Crawford stating in 1941 that Dormoy launched "his" (sic) business in 1934,[6] and the mannequin "Freddy" recalling a launch date of 1927 in her 1958 memoirs.[7]

In 1937 Dormoy had her portrait painted by the artist Marie Laurencin, who accepted a fur coat as payment. This portrait was sold by the Swiss auction house Dobiaschofsky in 2013.[1]

Dormoy remained with Jean Patou in Biarritz prior to returning to Paris, following the German occupation of France during World War II.[8] She continued working during the Occupation, providing clothes to clients such as the actress Edwige Feuillère.[9] In February 1946, Collier's published an article about Feuillère and Dormoy, noting that Dormoy's designs were among the first post-war models "by leading designers" to be bought by American buyers for export back home, despite a poor exchange rate meaning that each design cost $500–600.[9] A picture caption in the article noted that Dormoy's unfussy designs typically featured free-flowing lines.[9]

Dormoy closed her house in 1950, and died in 1976.[1] Her son and daughter-in-law presented a 1948 evening gown that she had designed to the Musée Galliera.[3]

References

  1. Web site: Staff writer. Dobiaschofsky Auktionen: Frühjahrsauktion 2013 Gemälde, Grafiken und Antiquitäten . AltertuemLiches.at. 19 October 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140228222646/http://www.altertuemliches.at/termine/auktion/dobiaschofsky-auktion-116-25828 . 28 February 2014. German.
  2. News: Samuel. Henry. Duke of Windsor had a love child with a Parisian seamstress – and paid to keep her silence, new book claims. 5 May 2017. The Telegraph.
  3. Web site: Evening dress, Marcelle Dormoy: Variation on the 'Bengale' model . Palais Galliera, musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris . 3 December 2014.
  4. Fashion under the occupation, Dominique Veillon, Berg Publishers, 2002, pg. 100.
  5. Book: Golbin. Pamela. Madeleine Vionnet. 2009. Rizzoli. New York. 978-0847832781. "DECEMBER: Marcelle Dormoy, former première d'atelier, opens her own fashion house".
  6. Book: Crawford, M.D.C. . The ways of fashion . 1941 . G.P. Putnam . [New York |isbn=0848647831 |pages=318 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggM-AAAAYAAJ&q=%22Dormoy%22].
  7. Book: Carlier, Jean . Flying mannequin - memoirs of a star model . 1958 . Hurst & Blackett. 9787410001469 .
  8. Fashion under the occupation, Dominique Veillon, Berg Publishers, 2002, pg. 11.
  9. News: Calvosa. Ulrich. Paris Model 1946. 6 December 2014. Collier's. 16 February 1946.

Further reading

Book: Grosso. Hélène. Siccardi. Jean. Graftieaux. François. L'homme qui aurait dû être roi: L'incroyable récit du petit-fils caché d'Edouard VIII. 22 September 2016. Le Cherche Midi. 9782749148373. fr.