Before there was Alexander McQueen, there was Lucile, the first British fashion designer to achieve international renown. It was Lucile who introduced the “mannequin parade,” which is what we call a fashion show – or else ballroom culture – depending upon whether we’re at the tents in Lincoln Center or up in Harlem – and it was Lucile who is widely credited with teaching the first fashion models how to “walk.”
Think about it, children: without Lucile, there would be no Naomi, no Christy, no Kate, nothing, nada.
Furthermore, it was Lucile who launched slit skirts and low necklines, selling them alongside sexy lingerie at her boutiques in London, Paris, New York, and Chicago. This woman Lucile, née Lucy Christiana Sutherland, later to become Lady Duff Gordon, deserves our attention.
In 2005, the fashion historian Rebecca Jumper Matheson, who is also an adjunct instructor in the History of Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, was a co-curator at the Museum FIT graduate student exhibition Designing the It Girl: Lucile and Her Style, which was the first exhibition to focus on the life and career of the designer Lucile – and now, as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), Matheson will give a lecture on the couturier Lucile. The event takes place on the 14th of April at 7 pm at Nesbitt Auditorium in Philadelphia – and best of all, tickets are free.
Just be sure and bring your house – and be ready to walk.
Buy tickets: FREE
