| Simone Mirman (née Parmentier) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 May 1912 Paris, France |
| Died | 1 August 2008 (aged 96) France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
Simone Mirman was a Paris-born milliner based in London, chiefly known for her designs for the British Royal Family.
Contents |
Simone Parmentier was born in Paris on 18 May 1912 to middle-class Catholic parents. She was apprenticed to one of the main Paris milliners of the 1920s and 1930s, Rose Valois. She had a talent for designing headwear to suit the wearer's face, and considered her first success to be a hat exactly suited to her mother's difficult face.[1] She then worked with the couturiere Elsa Schiaparelli, who was renowned for her bold millinery designs and concepts.[1][2]
Her suitor, who she met whilst in her early 20s, was a Jewish communist medical student called Serge Mirman. His background made him unacceptable to Simone's parents, so the couple eloped to London in 1937, despite neither speaking English.[1] They would not actually marry until 1939. Simone headed the hat department of Schiaparelli's London branch in Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair until it closed down in 1939. However, Schiaparelli generously gave her former employee the contact details of her English clientele. This would prove invaluable for launching Simone's own-label millinery career.[3]
During the Second World War the newly-wed, impoverished Mirmans lived in a small attic on Spring Street in Paddington. Each morning, they hid the evidence of their real life and transformed the attic into a millinery salon for Simone to serve customers seeking off-ration hats.[1][2] As clothing coupons were not required for hats, there was a steady demand for the designs Mirman created out of scraps and oddments.
In 1947, Simone Mirman was able to afford better premises near Hyde Park, and in 1952, she moved to Chesham Place, Belgravia, where her salon and workroom remained for the rest of her professional career. In the early 1950s Simone Mirman was supplying hats to Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies and Christian Dior. It was through Serge Mirman that Dior's licensed hosiery became established upon the London retail scene,[3] and indeed, Serge Mirman remained closely involved with his wife's business throughout her career.
In 1952, Simone Mirman was invited to show her wares at Buckingham Palace.[1] By this point she was making hats for the Royal couturiers Amies and Hartnell. She was so nervous at the prospect of her first encounter with Royalty that she broke protocol by entering through the front door of the Palace.[3] However, Princess Margaret, Elizabeth II, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother all became regular customers of hers. She was later granted the Royal warrants of Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother in recognition of her services.
Mirman's designs for Royalty took into account their individual preferences. She created light and airy hats for the Queen Mother lavishly trimmed with flowers and feathers. Princess Margaret favoured the most fashionable designs. The Queen insisted on hats that would please photographers – off-the-face brims (if any), clear colours to co-ordinate with her Hartnell and Amies outfits, and unusual fabrics to make her stand out in a crowd. A typical Mirman design for the Queen was the abbreviated cloche hat densely covered with small flowers. Perhaps the best-known individual Simone Mirman hat for the Queen is the dramatic 1969 Tudor gable hood-inspired hat the Queen wore at the investiture of the Prince of Wales. In 2003 a number of Mirman's hats were displayed in the Kensington Palace State Apartments as part of an exhibition of the Queen's wardrobe.
In addition to Royalty, Simone Mirman had many famous clients, including the actresses Vivien Leigh and Valerie Hobson, as well as many members of the English aristocracy and society. On a less exalted level, she designed caps to accompany the 1967 policewoman's uniforms designed by Norman Hartnell.
Through the 1960s and 1970s Simone Mirman continued to design fashionable hats. She created fun versions of the 1960s helmet hats encrusted with plastic gems,[4] and ultra-modern leather or plastic helmets with clear tinted PVC visors in 1966. Ernestine Carter chose one of these hats to complete the 1966 Dress Of The Year ensemble.[5] Her husband also assisted her to design hats, and was probably responsible for the more outlandish and eccentric Mirman hats that attracted the attention of the press.[1][6]
After Serge Mirman died in 1980, Simone Mirman closed down her Belgravia salon. She set up a small business with their daughter, Sophie, which sold leather goods and simple hats. Sophie Mirman went on to found Sock Shop and the childrenswear boutique Trotters.
Simone Mirman retired in 1990 and returned to France. She took up oil painting as a hobby and painted until her eyesight failed. She died in 2008 at the age of 96.