Lilly Daché was a French milliner and fashion designer.

She was born in Bègles

Bègles

Bègles is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.It is a suburb of the city of Bordeaux and is adjacent to it on the south.-Population:-Personalities:Bègles was the birthplace of:* Sandrine Cantoreggi , violinist...

, Gironde, France, and began her fashion career there at the age of 15 as a milliner, apprenticed under Caroline Reboux

Caroline Reboux

Caroline Reboux was a well known Parisian milliner and French fashion designer. She had white hair and a "girlish" look.Reboux made an art form out of high fashion hats which were re-emerging in France to supplant the bonnet in the mid-19th century...

 and Suzanne Talbot. Although she is said to have emigrated to the United States in 1924, the 1930 U.S. Census reports her as having entered this country in 1919; in any case, she settled in New York City. On 13 March 1931, Daché married French-born Jean Despres

Jean Despres

Jean Despres was a perfume industry businessman, known for his work with Coty, Inc.The French-born Jean Despres came to New York in 1921 working for Coty Inc. Starting as a shipping clerk, he went on to become a travelling salesman, covering thousands of miles on the Santa Fe Railroad across...

 who was an executive at the large cosmetics and fragrance company, Coty, Inc. Their mutual love and successful supportive professional lives and collaboration endeared them to those around them.

Daché is reported to have said, "Glamour is what makes a man ask for your telephone number. But it also is what makes a woman ask for the name of your dressmaker." She was the most famous milliner in the United States during her time. So famous, in fact, that she was a mystery guest on a 1955 episode of the sophisticated television game show, "What's My Line?

What's My Line?

What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....

" (Panelist Arlene Francis

Arlene Francis

Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...

 eventually guessed her identity.) She is also referenced in the song "Tangerine" performed by the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra.

Her major contributions to milinery were draped turban

Turban

In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...

s, brimmed hats molded to the head, half hats, visored caps for war workers, colored snood

Snood

Snood can refer to:* Snood , a type of hood or hairnet worn by women* Snood , a puzzle game* A caruncle or comb that hangs over the beak of a turkey* A type bait holder used on a crabbing trotline...

s, and romantic massed-flower shapes. By 1949, she was designing dresses to go with her hats, as well as lingerie

Lingerie

Lingerie are fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments.Lingerie usually incorporates one or more flexible, stretchy materials like Lycra, nylon , polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric which are not typically used in more functional, basic cotton undergarments.The term in the French...

, loungewear, gloves, hosiery, and a wired strapless bra

Brassiere

A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....

.

Lilly Dache designed for Hollywood films and had many clients who were movie-stars. They included Marlene Dietrich, Caroline Lombard and Loretta Young. When Dache retired in 1968 Loretta Young bought her last thirty hats. In 1958 Lilly Dache appeared on CBS What's My Line.

Both the designer Halston

Halston

Roy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston was a clothing designer of the 1970s. His long dresses or copies of his style were popular fashion wear in mid-1970s discotheques.-Early life and career:...

 and the hair stylist Kenneth worked for her before going into business for themselves.

Daché's books include Lilly Daché's Glamour Book (published in 1956) and her autobiography, Talking through My Hats (published in 1946).

Daché retired in 1968, and her New York millinery business was taken over by her daughter Suzanne Daché. Daché in 1940 won the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award

Neiman Marcus Fashion Award

The Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was a yearly award created in 1938 by Stanley Marcus. Unlike the Coty Award, it was not limited to American-based fashion designers...

. She also won the first Coty American Fashion Critics Award

Coty Award

The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards were first announced in January 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. The first awards were presented in January 1943, with Norman Norell winning...

 for millinery in 1943. She died in Louveciennes

Louveciennes

Louveciennes is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, between Versailles and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and adjacent to Marly-le-Roi.-Sights:...

, France. Her grandson is the American painter John Gordon Gauld (b.1977).

Her designs and hats are valued highly by collectors of vintage clothes.

External links

• Lilly Daché, Genius of Hats – slideshow by Life magazine
• Lilly Dache, 97, Creator of Hats For the Fashion Set of Yesteryear - Obituaries by New York Times