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Edward H. Molyneux (September 5, 1891 in Hampstead, London – March 23, 1974 in Monte Carlo) was a British fashion designer whose fashion house in Paris was in operation from 1919 until 1950.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Personal life 3 Paintings 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Overview

After a period working for the British fashion designer Lucile, Molyneux, a former illustrator, opened his fashion house in Paris at 14 rue Royale in 1919, expanding to Monte Carlo in 1925, Cannes in 1927, and London in 1932, becoming known for his "never too rich or too thin" idle slim "refined at the edge of outrageous" look, frowning on superfluous decoration, and going on to dress European royalty, British high society, actresses Greta Garbo, Gertrude Lawrence, Margaret Leighton, and Vivien Leigh, and interior decorator Syrie Maugham. His followers included Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain. He was friends with Noel Coward. "The designer to whom a fashionable woman would turn if she wanted to be absolutely right without being utterly predictable" (Caroline Milbank).

During World War II, he moved his firm to London for the duration of the conflict and returned to Paris in 1946. In 1965, he came out of retirement, Time magazine described him as "the Parisian equivalent of Manhattan's Mainbocher, a classicist devoted to the soft look and tailored line." ^[1]

Though he retired in 1950 to take up painting, leaving his fashion house in the hands of designer Jacques Griffe, Molyneux returned to fashion in 1964, when he opened Studio Molyneux, a high quality ready-to-wear line that received mixed reviews. He retired again in 1969, but Studio Molyneux continued under the direction of his cousin John Tullis until it closed in 1977.

The Molyneux trademark is owned by French company Parfums Berdoues, and though the fashion component of the firm remains dormant, the firm still produces scents, such as Captain (1975), Quartz (1978), Le Chic, Vivre, I Love You and Quartz Pure Red (2008).

[edit] Personal life

Molyneux was of Irish and French Huguenot anchestry. He served as an infantry captain with the British army during World War I, during which time he lost an eye in battle. In 1923 he married his first wife (Jessie) Muriel Dunsmuir (1890-1951), one of the eight daughters of the Hon. James Dunsmuir, Premier of British Columbia. They divorced in 1924.

[edit] Paintings

Molyneux's Uncle, also Edward Molyneux, during his years in the Himalayan Valley of Kashmir, painted many scenes of the capital city of Srinagar and other areas which inspired him. The paintings were published in a book title Kashmir accompanied by descriptions of the Valley by Francis Younghusband.

Captain Molyneux also collected an extensive Impressionist art collection, including paintings by Picasso, Monet, Manet and 17 Renoirs. They were sold as a 'lot' to A. Mellon Bruce, who bestowed the entire collection upon the Washington Museum.

[edit] External links

• Sewing patterns by Molyneux
• "Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php. 

[edit] References