A Dress of Violet Taffeta

I can't afford it, and I wouldn't want to wear it, but I do love looking at and reading about couture fashion.  Tessa Arlen's novel based on the life of Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon A Dress of Violet Taffeta (#1,305) fits the bill admirably.  Abandoned by a cheating husband, Lucy Wallace decides to divorce him rather than allow him access to her home and bed in the future, should he choose to come back.  She turns to her passion, dress designing, to keep her small family fed and clothed.  

She succeeds in her ambition, slowly rising to rival the premiere French fashion houses of the day when the Crown Prince's mistress shows off Lucy's designs to perfection to the Marlborough Set in London.  Since everyone wants to wear a Lucile, Ltd. dress, it also places her in the orbit of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, a Scottish baronet and her future husband.  A trip to New York to oversee her new American design studio puts Lucy onboard the Titantic.  Although both she and her husband survive the ordeal, their relationship is never the same.

It's a fascinating story with luscious descriptions of her designs which helped revolutionize women's attire in the Belle Epoque.  The Victoria & Albert Museum in London mounted an exhibit of Lucile, Ltd.'s designs with a lavish catalog which you can purchase online if you are lucky enough to find a copy.  

I loved the name chosen for this novel and stumbled upon a real-life story brought to vivid life in these pages.  If you are a clothes hound this may be the ideal read for you, too.