Norman Hartnell

Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell, KCVO was a leading British fashion designer, best known for his work for the ladies of the Royal Family. Hartnell gained the Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1940 and Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

Hartnell is famous as the man who made London a viable twentieth century fashion centre during the interwar years. Born to an upwardly mobile family in Streatham, in southwest London, his parents were then publicans and owners of the prophetically named Crown amp Sceptre, at the top of Streatham Hill. Educated at Mill Hill School, Hartnell became an undergraduate of Magdalene College in the University of Cambridge and read Modern Languages. His main interest lay in performing, and designing productions for the university Footlights and he was noticed by the London press as the designer of a Footlights production which transferred to Dalys Theatre, London. He then worked unsuccessfully for two London designers, including the celebrated Lucile, whom he sued for damages when several of his drawings appeared unattributed in her weekly fashion column in the London Daily Sketch. In 1923 he opened his own business atBruton Street, Mayfair, with the financial help of his father and first b

Source: Wikipedia