Charles Creed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Charles Southey Creed 25 May 1909 Paris, France |
| Died | 17 July 1966(1966-07-17) (aged 57)[1][2] Westminster, London |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Spouse | |
Charles Southey Creed (25 May 1909 – 17 July 1966) was a British fashion designer. Born into the longstanding tailoring house ofHenry Creed & Company in Paris, he launched his eponymous label in London in 1946. The first elected member of theIncorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, he had success in both Britain and the United States.[3]
Creed was born in 1909 at 29 rue Singer in the16th arrondissement of Paris, the sixth child and third son born to tailor Henry Creed (1824–1914).[3] LikeCharles Worth, the Creed family was British and became part of the French couture establishment, rising to prominence in the 19th century.[4] His grandfather, also named Henry Creed, had introduced women's professional tailoring to Paris in the 1890s.[5] The company – which said its tailoring roots dated back to the 1700s – had a reputation for creating fine women'sriding habits as well as men's tailoring; clients included the British and French royal families.[6][7] Creed's father was said to have designed the outfit worn byMata Hari when she was shot.[1]
Charles Creed was educated in France and Vienna, also spending some time as a designer withBergdorf Goodman in New York, where he was said to have been very popular with clients. After a six-month spell completing his fashion industry education at Linton tweed mill inCarlisle – a key supplier to couturiers, notablyCoco Chanel – he returned to work at the family firm in Paris in 1933.[7][8] He retained a workspace inKnightsbridge during the early 1930s, which he shared with fellow designer – and later IncSoc member –Mattli.[9] He was already considered notable enough in the United States to be chosen – alongside names such asElsa Schiaparelli andJeanne Lanvin – to design clothes forFrances Drake in the 1936 film version ofI'd Give My Life.[10] Creed was designing for the family firm in Paris at the outbreak ofwar, moving back in 1940 after the fall of France.[11] He later described how he left Paris hours ahead of the Germans – with his father Henry Creed, then 80, refusing to evacuate the city where he had spent his life.[12]
Charles Creed established his London showroom and workspace initially inFortnum & Mason, moving to a basement air raid shelter once theLondon air raids started in earnest. In early 1941, he toured the United States to promote British woollens to American consumers and encourage them to support the war effort.[12] He also contributed to the war effort as a member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc) in 1942.[13] According to the fashion journalistErnestine Carter, while Creed contributed to a 1941 collection with other IncSoc founding members, he was not among the eight founder members, but was the first elected member of the Society.[14]
Creed opened his eponymous label in London in 1946.[15] His 1947 collection – produced in a year when rationing was still in force in Britain – was greeted enthusiastically by a reviewer forMelbourne newspaperThe Age, who described wool and jersey dresses with coordinating coats and box jackets, plus tailored suits in striped tweeds and blackbarathea worn with brightly coloured blouses.[15] His 1947 range was also showcased in aBritish Pathé feature, alongside hats by Danish milliner to the QueenAage Thaarup. Three years later, Creed's place among the British couture establishment was cemented by the inclusion of one of his suits in a fashion show sequence in the filmMaytime in Mayfair – all the designers were IncSoc members.[16]
Creed was well connected among broader fashion circles. His wife Patricia Cunningham had been appointed fashion editor ofVogue at the age of 23; a 1952 article inThe Sydney Morning Herald about the women behind London's top designers described her as: "his severest critic", adding that she attended his fashion shows in order to take notes about hits and misses in the collection.[17]
Creed's store was located at 31Basil Street, Knightsbridge.[13] The premises was masculine in tone, with dark panelling on the walls and displays ofNapoleonic toy soldiers (Creed had a fine collection that was later to be the subject of aBritish Pathé film).[13] This love of military themes and detailing was to influence his designs, which featuredfrogging, braiding and piping. Capes andtricorn hats were also part of his design signature.[18] While he did make some evening wear, designs were normally slim and tailored.[19]
Several years before his death, Creed had established a wholesale fashion house specialising in knitwear and planned to focus on this after the closure of his couture business in 1966.[1]
After the closure of his couture house, he donated a selection of model garments to theVictoria and Albert Museum to illustrate his design style.[19] His work was also exhibited as part of a 2007 V&A exhibition calledThe Golden Age of Couture.[18] The family name lives on in the Paris perfume house ofCreed.
Charles Creed + Hollywood designs.
{{cite news}}:|last1= has generic name (help)| Parent |
|  | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key people |
| ||||||||||||||||
| Tenants | |||||||||||||||||
| Media | |||||||||||||||||
| Properties | |||||||||||||||||
