All We Know: Three Lives (48 page)

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Authors: Lisa Cohen

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“copy of a…
STOP
”: Madge Garland, “A Telegram from Paris,”
Britannia and Eve
, March 1930, 76.

“Don’t you think…bustle?”
: Madge Garland, “A Fashion Questionnaire: A Few Pertinent Remarks on the High-lights of the 1931–1932  Winter Fashions,”
Britannia and Eve
, November 1931, 54. She used this form several years before Diana Vreeland’s “Why Don’t You” column in
Harper’s
. In fact, she and Vreeland knew each other when Vreeland lived in London and ran a lingerie shop in the early 1930s.

“Which Would You…Tulle?”
: Madge Garland, “News and Novelties,”
The Bystander
, October 5, 1932, 34–35.

“A long dress…it”
: Gertrude Stein, “Tender Buttons,”
Writings 1903–1932
(New York: Library of America, 1998), 318.

“Practice measurement, practice…accentuation”
: Stein, “Tender Buttons,” 319.

“Looking is not…clothing”
: Stein, “Portrait of Mabel Dodge at Villa Curiona,”
Writings 1903–1932
, 357.

“For this is so. Because”
: Stein, “If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso,”
Writings 1903–1932
, 506.

“Velvet is Very Important”
: Madge Garland,
The Bystander
, September  21, 1932, 561.

“The ANGLE of…important”
: Garland, “Madge Garland Brings Back News from Paris,” 130–31.

“This insistence on…importance”
: Madge Garland, “What I Saw in Paris,”
Britannia and Eve
, April 1930, 74.

“Importance is given…gaillac”
: Madge Garland, “A Letter from Paris: Autumn 1933,”
Britannia and Eve
, October 1933, 63.

“There is a…frivolous”
: Mary Graham [Madge Garland], “The Psychology of Dress,”
Britannia and Eve
, December 1930, 87. I have found no other trace of Graham, so I attribute the article to Madge, whose initials she shares.

“it is the…‘trivial’”
: Virginia Woolf,
A Room of One’s Own
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989 [1929]), 73–74.

“the desire to…individual”
: Graham [Garland], “The Psychology of Dress,” 87.

“It is a…house”
: Madge Garland, “This Fashion Business,”
Britannia and Eve
, November 1930, 140.

“A huge modern…lamé”
: Garland, “Letter from Paris, Autumn, 1933,” 9, 60, 86.

“madly jealous of…hell”
: MG to Isabelle Anscombe, interview, London, July 2, 1980, IAP.

She remained in France
: “England was unsuitable for their chosen way of life,” as Wyld’s niece put it. Biddy Kay to Isabelle Anscombe, n.d, IAP.

“always set her…belts”
: Ibid.

“the most austere…materials”
: Madge Garland, “Interiors by Eyre de Lanux,”
The Studio
(1930): 263–65, 265.

“was radical in…day”
: Isabelle Anscombe,
A Woman’s Touch
, 121, 128.

“the grain of…banal”
: Garland, “Interiors by Eyre de Lanux,” 265.

“grew up in…living”
: MG to Isabelle Anscombe, interview, London, July 2, 1980, IAP. Like Esther Murphy, Madge lost many friends of the 1920s to opium and other addictions; she believed that she had never succumbed to drugs because she had to support herself.

“Give Madge what she wants”
: MG to Shaunagh Ward-Jackson, conversation, London, n.d.

“toadied to in…princesses”
: Garland,
Fashion
, 100.

“You will go far”
: “Madge Garland,” obituary,
Telegraph
, July 17, 1980, MGP.

“the rôle of merchandise-stylist”
: Garland,
Fashion
, 105–6.

“looked on with…criticism”
: Ibid.

“be the pivot…idea”
: Ibid., 106.

“deals with the…stores”
: Jane Mulvagh, Vogue
Fashion History of 20th Century
, foreword by Valerie D. Mendes (London: Viking, 1988), 185.

“Selfridges or Harrods…wherever”
: MG memoir drafts, MGP.

“was the chicest…lot”
: Virginia Nicholson to author, telephone interview, May 26, 1998.

“antennae”
: Anne Scott-James to author, interview, London, 9  December 1997.

“bitterly anti-Garland…so”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, September 2, 1935.

“much more boring…reliable”
: Anne Scott-James to author, interview, London, December 9, 1997.

“people who happened…homosexual”
: Jennifer Beattie to author, interview, London, December 9, 1997.

“Claire
[sic]
Luce…star”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, June 19 [1937].

“and have cocktails…host”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, Saturday July 8 [1939].

“straight skirt, nice…spectacular”
: Jennifer Beattie to author, interview, London, December 9, 1997.

“sorting out everyone’s…own”
: Patricia Laffan to author, interview, London, March 21, 1998.

“She had no…irony”:
Patrick Woodcock to author, interview, London, January 25, 2002.

“a very complex…difficult”
: Sybille Bedford to author, telephone conversation, January 8, 2003.

“quarreled…bitterly”
: Sybille Bedford to author, interview, London, December 7, 1997.

“In a match…winning”
: Francis King to author, interview, London, March 21, 1998.

“Here comes that…Garland”
: Patricia Laffan to author, interview, London, March 21, 1998.

“until we see…war”
: Harry Yoxall to Condé Nast, November 4, 1938, CNA.

“The clothes were…future”
: Madge Garland, “Introduction,”
Fashion, 1900–1939
, Scottish Arts Council and Victoria and Albert Museum (London: Idea, 1975), 8.

“The cost of…so”
: Harry Yoxall to Condé Nast, September 28, 1939, CNA.

“reckless in the…met”
: Sybille Bedford,
Aldous Huxley
(New York: Carroll and Graf, 1985 [1973, 1974]), 308.

“low in the…stress”
: Harry Yoxall to Condé Nast, October 11, 1939, CNA.

“turned up trumps…brighter”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, September 26, 1939.

“It was a…well”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, December 29, 1939.

“to get rid of Madge”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, October 31, 1939.

“fundamentally artificial approach…conservatism”
: Elizabeth Penrose to Harry Yoxall, November 2, 1939, CNA.

“contact with the…clothes”
: Condé Nast to Edna Woolman Chase, November 30, 1939, CNA.

“difficult situation,” wrote…“but…”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, October 31, 1939.

“There are to…anguish”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, January 2, 1940.

“swansong…trip”
: Harry Yoxall, unpublished diaries, February 6, 1940.

“Then once again…friends”
: MG memoir drafts, MGP.

“children’s socks, or…thing”
: MG to Flora Groult, interview, London, July 26, 1986. Betty Penrose had also complained that Madge had no “practical, promotional sense,” no “merchandising sense.” “If I were a merchant looking for a sound fashion director,” she wrote to Harry Yoxall, “Mrs. Garland would be the last person I would choose.” Stafford Bourne had other ideas.

“such trivial matters…moment”
: MG memoir drafts, MGP.

Britain was far behind
…: When British industry groups finally developed a sizing code derived from systematic measurements of the population, beginning in the 1960s, manufacturers still resisted using it.

“a series of…etc.)”
: Garland,
Fashion
, 65.

“the right type…size”
: MG memoir drafts, MGP.

“began to dabble in design”
: Glynn, “50  Years On.”

“through shattered streets…glass”
: Vera Brittain,
Testament of Experience: An Autobiographical Story of the Years 1925–1950
(New York: Macmillan, 1957), 266.

“I don’t know…all”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, June 2 [1941], MHFP.

“One can only…done”
: Ibid.

“nowadays one only…seen”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, n.d. [postmarked March 12, 1942; received June 10, 1942], MHFP.

“to restrict the…trimmings”
: Garland,
Fashion
, 61.

“coupons, clothes, style…B. o. T.”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, June 3, [1942], MHFP.

“I never thought…it”
: MG to Shaunagh Ward-Jackson, conversation, London, n.d.

“He had more…together”
: MG to Hugo Vickers, interview, London, March 8, 1980.

“It was always…match”
: MG to Isabelle Anscombe, interview, London, October 8, 1979, IAP.

“were backward in…fashion”
: Garland,
Fashion
, 61.

“died a quick…war”
: MG to Isabelle Anscombe, interview, London, October 8, 1979, IAP.

“Uncertainty with regard…acute”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, November  9, [1941], MHFP.

“in the abstract…it”
: Violet Powell to Hilary Spurling, conversation, Somerset, January 2002.

“very badly blitzed…disaster”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, September 30 [1944], MHFP.

“planes in hundreds…wheels”
: Janet Flanner to Solita Solano, November 15, 1944, JFP.

“The streets were…nothing”
: Jane Heap to Florence Reynolds, Holly  A. Baggett, ed.,
Dear Tiny Heart: The Letters of Jane Heap and Florence Reynolds
(New York: New York University Press, 2000), 136–37.

“enough to live…resources”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, September  30, [1944], MHFP.

“with rockets and sirens around”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, November 28, 1944, MHFP.

“so that I…occasions”
: MG memoir drafts, MGP.

“the greyness of London”
: Ibid.

“pretty and gay…‘transformed’”
: Quoted in Bedford,
Aldous Huxley
, 442.

“Talked with Madge…rugs”
: Hedda Hopper “Looking at Hollywood,”
Los Angeles Times
, June 25, 1945, A2.

“where I expect…day”
: MG memoir drafts, MGP.

“colorful, impudently gay…America”
: “Dress Reformer,” MGP.

“this poverty stricken island”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, November 16 [1947], MHFP.

“I have a…it”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, June 19, 1946, MHFP.

“icy…
With the…everywhere”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, January 25 [1947], MHFP.

“epic: fourteen hours…horrible”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, n.d. [1946], MHFP.

“the clothes in…interesting”
: Ibid.

“to set up…center”
:
Women’s Wear Daily
, September 5, 1947, MGP.

“to remake my…up)”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, June 19, 1946, MHFP.

“in the thick…do”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, September 18, 1947, MHFP.

PROFESSOR OF FASHION

“as soft and easy…gloves”
: Quoted in
www.exero.com/mastergate/secured/fashion/ferragammo.htm
.

“high marriage wastage”
: “And by the Way…,” n.d., MGP.

“London’s most unusual professor”
: Fashion Professor to Marry Museum Director,” March 7, 1952, MGP.

“The First Professor of Fashion”
: Marjorie Beckett, “The First Professor of Fashion,”
Picture Post
, February 19, 1949.

“My dear Gerald…egotism”
: MG to Gerald McHarg, July 9, 1949. See
Time
s (London) July 8, 1949, MHFP.

“not only the…industry”
:
Harper’s Bazaar
, n.d., 46, RCAA.

“the civil servant stuffed shirts”
: MG to Isabelle Anscombe, interview, London, October 8, 1979, IAP.

She also hired…England
: “She was open enough to employ…all kinds of people,” Brogden recalled. “I can remember seeing the number tattooed on this woman’s arm,” she said of the Jewish refugee who taught lingerie, for example.

“I wanted people…industry”
: Glynn, “50  Years On.”

“costume history, cutting…embroidery”
:
Harper’s Bazaar
, n.d., 46, RCAA.

“facts and technique…sophistication”
: Ibid.

“to train you…awful”
: Joanne Brogden to author, interview, London, December 4, 1997.

“She was an…go”
: David Sassoon to author, interview, London, September 22, 1997.


You had visits…time”
: David Watts to author, interview, London, June 13, 1998.

“She wears clothes…wit”
: “Their Business Is Fashion,” British
Vogue
, June 1949, 77. There is a “gaiety” to her style, “which is uncontrived, indefinable, but very much in character.”

“original approach to…individuality”
: “Two Names in London Fashion,” n.d., MGP.

“a very glamorous…sleeves”
: David Watts to author, interview, London, June 13, 1998.

“She was what…heaven”
: David Sassoon to author, interview, London, September 22, 1997.

“the way she…awe”
: Gina Fratini to author, interview, London, September 18, 1997.

“Paris, Kensington”
: Foreword, Christopher Frayling, Royal College of Art Fiftieth Anniversary program.

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