PHELPS, Elspeth.

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Original fashion illustrations from a forgotten London couturier. The 1923 business merger of Elspeth Phelps (1876-1968) with the great couture house Paquin was hailed as a fashion milestone, being reported as "the first time an Englishwoman has been asked to join a famous French firm" (The Era, p. 8). Beyond fashion, Phelps was an ardent suffragette and became the London President of the Soroptimist organization in 1927. Trained under Ada Nettleship and Sarah Fullerton Monteith Young, Phelps opened her London business around 1906. The range of illustrated designs – which include wedding dresses, theatre outfits with lorgnettes, and an ensemble for the "Queen of Spain" – demonstrates her versatility in outfitting the social calendars of the elite. The theatre was an important showcase for new fashions, and Phelps's presence there was ubiquitous, dressing stars of the stage such as Lily Elsie. She also dressed the Court and high society, prompting comparisons with Rose Bertin, Marie Antoinette's "Minister of Fashion": "assuredly had there been such a position in these days, it would have been given to Miss Elspeth Phelps" (The Tatler, p. 428). She outfitted the "best dressed woman in the world" of her day, the dancer Irene Castle, who was part of her substantial American clientele (The Bystander, p. 93).Following a highly publicized fallout, Phelps left Paquin in 1925, and in 1926 she reopened her business under her married name, Mrs Lionel Fox Pitt. The company was eventually

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