A dual-biography, of the sisters who grew up to become Lady Duff-Gordon, the fashion designer whose Maison Lucile 'personality dresses' took Edwardian London by storm, and Madame Elinor Glyn, author of the scandalous 'Three Weeks' and all-around authority on Romance and Sex-Appeal, or as she called it, 'IT'.

In some ways I wish this had been released as two separate volumes, because the back and forth, every other chapter format got a bit confusing at times. But what a fascinating portrait of two very different women who happened to be there at just the right time when their obsessions and creative outpouring perfectly matched with what people wanted. Of course, because Lucy's gorgeous clothes and Elinor's glamorous books were so perfectly Edwardian, both of them had a hard time once the Great War had destroyed the last vestiges of the old world and ushered in the Roaring Twenties.

TBC when I have more time... ( )

A dual-biography, of the sisters who grew up to become Lady Duff-Gordon, the fashion designer whose Maison Lucile 'personality dresses' took Edwardian London by storm, and Madame Elinor Glyn, author of the scandalous 'Three Weeks' and all-around authority on Romance and Sex-Appeal, or as she called it, 'IT'.

In some ways I wish this had been released as two separate volumes, because the back and forth, every other chapter format got a bit confusing at times. But what a fascinating portrait of two very different women who happened to be there at just the right time when their obsessions and creative outpouring perfectly matched with what people wanted. Of course, because Lucy's gorgeous clothes and Elinor's glamorous books were so perfectly Edwardian, both of them had a hard time once the Great War had destroyed the last vestiges of the old world and ushered in the Roaring Twenties.

TBC when I have more time... ( )

"Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger-skin?
Or would you prefer
To err
With her
On some other fur?"

Anon., popular verse, ca. 1907