Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl (née Ella Anderson de Wolfe; December 20, c. 1859[1] – July 12, 1950[2]) was an American actress who became a very prominent interior designer and author. Born in New York City, de Wolfe was acutely sensitive to her surroundings from her earliest years and became one of the first female interior decorators, replacing dark and ornate Victorian decor with lighter, simpler styles and uncluttered room layouts.
Her 1926 marriage to English diplomat Sir Charles Mendl was seen as a marriage of convenience, although she was proud to be called Lady Mendl. Since 1892, de Wolfe had been living openly in a lesbian relationship with Elisabeth Marbury, with whom she lived in New York and Paris. Lady Mendl was a prominent social figure, and she entertained in the most distinguished circles.
^Ella A. De Wolfe, age 1, is found on the 1860 United States Federal Census
^Morgan, Barbara. "de Wolfe, Elsie (1865–1950)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia – via Encyclopedia.com.
ElsiedeWolfe, Lady Mendl (née Ella Anderson deWolfe; December 20, c. 1859 – July 12, 1950) was an American actress who became a very prominent interior...
1892, Marbury had been living openly in a lesbian relationship with ElsiedeWolfe (later known as Lady Mendl), a prominent socialite and famous interior...
with Edgar's sister, the French designer ElsiedeWolfe. The marriage between Winifred (senior) and Edgar deWolfe was short-lived, and she again remarried...
working in the manner advocated by its authors, most notably ElsiedeWolfe. ElsieDeWolfe was one of the first interior designers. Rejecting the Victorian...
Maugham's glamorous rooms influenced almost every designer, particularly ElsiedeWolfe, Jean-Michel Frank, and Frances Elkins. After Maugham closed her New...
Chris DeWolfe (born 1966), American entrepreneur ElsiedeWolfe (1859–1950), American actress, interior decorator, and society figure Harry DeWolf (1903–2000)...
from speaking in Paris in June 1939. Mendl married interior decorator ElsiedeWolfe in 1926, at which point he was head of the press section in the British...
Greene and Greene designs. The interior of the house was designed by ElsiedeWolfe and the San Francisco design house of Vickery, Atkins and Torrey. When...
hair was taken up by the first professional interior designer, Lady ElsieDeWolfe Mendl, which started a new fad. He created the “garconne” hairstyle...
Maryland. The interiors, which exist largely unchanged, were created by ElsiedeWolfe – later to become Lady Mendl – a former actress who had recently opened...
arbiters of fashion as Alexandra of Denmark, wife of Edward VII, and ElsiedeWolfe, popular American interior decorator. Later, they were owned by Rumer...
official recognition from the French government. Probably at a party of ElsiedeWolfe he met Linda Lee Thomas and through her, her husband, Cole Porter. Eventually...
spending time in Hollywood, he became a close friend of interior decorator ElsiedeWolfe, Lady Mendl. A mural on the walls of the Carlyle Hotel's Bemelmans Bar...
Cierplikowski), dyed his dog's hair blue. An influential client, Lady ElsieDeWolfe Mendl, took up the same style and this started a new fad. Later in the...
decorated and updated throughout the years by Marilyn Johnson Tucker, ElsieDeWolfe, Marjorie Requa, Tony Duquette, and Kathryn Crawford. During the 1920s...
Wallace Leroy DeWolf (1854–1930), American businessman and artist DeWolfe Billy DeWolfe (1907–1974), American character actor ElsiedeWolfe (1859–1950)...
portrait by Burr McIntosh for Munseys Magazine The Other Girl(1903) with ElsieDeWolfe, Frank Worthing and Lionel Barrymore (NY Public Library Billy Rose collection)...
(between the late 19th and early 20th century) include ElsieDeWolfe, Rose Cumming, Nancy McClelland, Elsie Cobb Wilson, Francis Elkins, Surie Maugham and Dorothy...
decorators working in the manner advocated by its authors, most notably ElsiedeWolfe. The book was reprinted by The Mount and Rizzoli and in a hardcover...
In 1948, she received an honorary degree from Mills College and the ElsiedeWolfe Award. In 1970 Liebes received the American Craft Council Gold Medal...
des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and was an associate of renowned decorator ElsiedeWolfe. She introduced Chalfin to Deering for the interiors of his Chicago...
Cecil Beaton, who became a lifelong friend. Like Syrie Maugham and ElsiedeWolfe, society women who ran their own boutiques, Diana operated a lingerie...
first American to be so honored. The Duchess of Windsor (1934) and ElsiedeWolfe (1935) also earned that title. She was named to the International Best...
and her then-husband Arthur Miller; actress and interior decorator ElsiedeWolfe and actress, fashion designer and socialite C. Z. Guest; clothing designers...
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