Research Paper On Elsie De Wolfe

Elsie de Wolfe, (1865-1950) is a design legend and to many, she is referred to as America's first decorator. According to the New Yorker, "Interior design as a profession was invented by Elsie." Because of her support system and increasing social status, de Wolfe's style and interiors were noticed, and accepted. She was able to open up a whole new sense of style to her era. Her reputation as an actress, her success in decorating the interior of her own home at the Irving House, and her social connections all aided in her success.

De Wolfe was a lady of many firsts, not only was she the first interior decorator, but she was also the first "lady" to appear on a Broadway stage. She began her career dabbling in amateur theatre until the death

of her father which led her to the professional stage until 1902. She was assisted in entering the field by her close friend, Elisabeth Marbury, a theatrical agent. De Wolfe was well known by her outfits rather than her acting. On stage, she was neither a total failure nor a great success; The American National Biography explains, "one critic called her the leading exponent of the peculiar art of wearing good clothes well”. Women would flock to her plays just to see the clothes that she wore for each production. Elsie, always having a thing for fashion, became interested in interior decorating as a result of staging plays. She was prompted by her friends to move toward the profession and as a result, she left the theater to launch a career as a decorator.
In 1887, de Wolfe's aesthetic was first articulated in the house she shared with Elizabeth Marbury on a corner of New York's East 117th Street.

Typical American homes around the 1900s had never been professionally designed before. For Elsie, decorating was nothing less than a moral issue, according to the New Yorker, she said, "You will express yourself, in your home, whether you want to or not." She hated Victorian styled houses which she had grown up with and wanted to rid it completely from her own design. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "On first seeing the pantheon she exclaimed, 'It's Beige, my color!'" She believed in achieving a single, harmonious, overall design statement and felt that the decoration of the home should reflect the woman's personality, rather than simply the husband's earning power. She received a major commission: the decoration of The Colony Club, America's first exclusive private women's club, which was partly founded by her friend Marbury. The women of the club were cautious to give Elsie the commission since it was such a big job for a lady, but according to the Indianapolis Business Journal, Stanford White, the club's renowned architect, was consulted. He replied, "give the job to Elsie and let the girl alone. She knows more than any of us." The tea room she designed in the Colony Club developed into the largest impact to her design career. She filled the room with green painted garden trellis to give the effect of being outdoors, and chintz, which lavishly covered anything from seating to curtains to walls. The Colony Club put Elsie on the map, and big private commissions

followed.
Her high-in-society clients brought her wealth, and she and Marbury became noted hostesses. In 1903, they bought and began restoring the Villa Trianon in Versailles, France, which became a second hub for their social lives. She soon began decorating for people in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. De Wolfe's name spread across the country. She did more work for clubs, several private homes, both on the East Coast and in California, opera boxes and a dormitory at Barnard College, she also lectured and published her most influential book, The House in Good Taste. Having published a book meant that she could expand her horizons to even more housewives and rich clients. As de Wolfe's fame spread, she was commissioned to design the homes of Ms. George Beckwith, Mr. And Mrs. William Crocker, and the Barrymore. The highlight of her career, both professionally and financially, came just before World War I, when Henry Clay Frick hired her to decorate the private rooms in the new mansion he was building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventieth Street. This commission privileged De Wolfe with one million dollars.
Until 1926, Elsie was still famous as an interior decorator. All of that changed when she married Sir Charles Mendl. Everyone who knew her was startled that this 61-year-old confirmed bachelorette would do something so out of character. The press referred to her as Lady Mendl and believed that the marriage was primarily out of social convenience and to enhance her social reputation. The Indianapolis Business Journal states, "Elsie, was always up for a new experience, and claimed it was just one of those few things in life that she hadn't tried yet." World War II forced the Mendls to leave Europe. They moved to Beverly Hills, where the movie community greeted Elsie with great enthusiasm.
At age eighty, de Wolfe was considered a design legend, while the decorating and fashion magazines regularly paid tribute to her. She opened up a new standard of design that is still in practice today and was the inventor of the 20th century's notion of marketing taste. The main elements of her style are considered both fresh and contemporary. The women who she surrounded herself with, including colony club members and Elisabeth Marbury aided her support within her community. Her quirky personality, talents and innovative thinking, that were all widely admired, supported her to achieve her goals of impressing and inspiring people.