created stage images for the theatrical première of the Merry Widow operetta by Franz
Lehar in London (1907), for the Broadway’s Ziegfeld Follies (1915-1921), for Way
Down East, a silent movie of David W. Griffith (1920), and others. The work for the
theatre has become a significant part of Lucile’s success. For example, after the
performance of the Merry Widow operetta, the leading London department stores
ordered copies of the hats that she had designed for Lily Elsie. Lucile worked as a
personal stylist with the most famous British actress of the Edwardian era. She created
not only the costumes for her performances, but also developed an individual everyday
style. It was coherent with the current fashionable image of the era, which is why Lily
Elsie was recognized as a standard of beauty. Her photographs in a wide variety of
images circulated in thousands of copies of popular at the time postcards.
Lucile can be considered one of the first European artists who made costumes for
silent Hollywood movies. At the time, the actors brought costumes to the shooting
themselves according to their own taste and discretion. But the desire to look luxurious
contributed to the fact that the outfits were ordered from the leading European
couturiers. Future famous costume designers of the 1930s, such as Howard Greer and
Travis Banton, began their creative careers at the American branches of the Lucile
Fashion House. And Lucile’s collaboration with Florenz Ziegfeld to create costumes
for his shows is a bright page in the development of America’s spectacular culture of
the early 20th century.
Fig. 1. One of the first shows in the salon Lucille. London. 1897.
Fig. 2. English actress Lily Elsie in a dress from Lucille. 1912.
Meanwhile, the first staging shows of Lady Duff Gordon took place behind the
scenes for a specially invited audience in a prepared room with a cup of tea. They were
dramatized and well thought out performances. The stage, the curtains, from behind of
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