CAFÉ SOCIETY AT HOME | Grand Luxe And The Inter-War Years with Peter McNeil

Glamour means making yourself available to be looked at, and the staging of the domestic interior was central to that role. We examine the great patrons of luxury of the inter-war years and the early 1950s: Elsie de Wolfe, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Diana Vreeland, Pauline de Rothschild, Mona Bismark and the Duchess of Windsor. Understand better the relationship of interior decoration to dress and other fashions including clothing and jewellery.

DR PETER MCNEIL is Professor of Design History at University of Technology Sydney and Foundation Professor of Fashion Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden. He is the author of numerous publications including ten works on fashion, including the best-selling Shoes, also translated into Italian (with G, Riello 2006; 2011). Current book projects include the ‘long’ history of luxury, supported by the UK Leverhulme Trust and fashion writing from the 17th century to the present day.

This lecture is kindly supported by The Friends of The Johnston Collection.