Before there was a career known as interior decorating or design, Elsie de Wolfe set her sights on redefining the furnishings of her era. Weighted down with the heaviness of the dreary Victorian styles, she boldly went to work bringing in a new and refined freshness to her surroundings.
The Early Life of Elsie de Wolfe
Ella Anderson de Wolfe was born in New York on December 20, 1865 to a wealthy family. It is well documented that her parents considered her to be unattractive and at a young age sent her off to finishing school in Scotland where she lived with relatives. While living abroad, Elsie was overwhelmed by the dark and gloominess of her Victorian surroundings. She grew to hate the look of the era and although she was living a privileged life, being presented at court as a debutante to Queen Victoria and exposed to life in London society at a very young age, she became preoccupied with creating a new way of living.
Elsie de Wolfe's Career On The Stage
Returning to New York in the mid-1880s, Elsie took to a career on the stage. She found moderate work as an actress; however her best reviews were noted for her contributions to the costumes which she designed herself, and to her set design. This was all it took to spark her interest in becoming a professional decorator. It was while working in the theatre that Elsie also met her lifelong partner, Elisabeth Marbury. The two began a very public relationship that would last until Marbury’s death in 1933.
Elsie Shapes The Face Of Interior Decoration
By the early 1900s, Elsie was nearing age forty and soon realized that her youth was behind her. She wisely decided to invent an alternate career for herself. Although she was motivated by her quest for fresh, new styles for living, ultimately it was her insatiable need for acceptance into the ranks of high society that drove her to succeed. Belabored with the notion that she was never attractive enough, she worked hard at keeping fit and dressing well to overcome her shortcomings. With her polished persona, she set the stage for future designers and the level of sophistication that is often associated with the interior design field.
Tired of the old Victorian décor of the era, Elsie’s interiors focused on bright lighting and comfortable seating. Delicate accents along with softly colored draperies, Chinoiserie prints and chintz-covered sofas lifted the weight of the old gloomy Victorian-style houses. Influenced by the eighteenth-century French designs she had seen while in Europe, Elsie brought forth her own updated styles based on the freshness of a more romantic era.
Her practical style also focused on a more casual yet sophisticated setting for entertaining. While the rest of America was caught up in the heavy industry surrounding that time, she single-handedly brought cocktail parties and simple dinner parties in vogue and soon had the reputation of being one of the best social hostesses in New York.
Elsie’s connection with Marbury also gained her access to the newly-formed Colony Club in Manhattan. Prestigious members at that time were names such as Astor and Morgan and at the time it was considered one of the most exclusive clubs on the East Coast. The interiors for this esteemed club were designed by Elsie and when the club opened its doors in 1907, her reputation was solidified.
In 1913, she published her first book, The House in Good Taste which went on to become the most highly regarded book of interior decorationShe worked over the next few decades for clients such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Vanderbilts and Henry Clay Frick.
Elsie Becomes Lady Mendl
Although she and Bessie continued their relationship and worked together on furnishing their second home in Versailles, she astounded her partner and the public in 1926 by marrying Sir Charles Mendl, if just for the title. It was widely known that this was a platonic relationship and that behind the scenes, Bessie and Elsie continued their affair.
Elsie's dramatic life came to an end in the summer of 1950 when she was eighty-four years old. She had left a world that was furnished in a much cozier state than when she started her career forty-five years earlier. Even through the evolution of the last century of interior decoration trends, one can look at current furnishings and still see the influence of Elsie de Wolfe.
Sources:
- Encyclopedia Britannica
- www.architecturaldigest.com
- www.canadianinteriordesign.com
