Simone Mirman
Encyclopedia
Simone Mirman was a Paris-born milliner based in London, chiefly known for her designs for the British Royal Family
.
, who was renowned for her bold millinery designs and concepts.
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. 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.
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, 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
. 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. 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, 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. 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.
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.
as a hobby
and painted until her eyesight failed. She died in 2008 at the age of 96.
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
.
Early life
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. She then worked with the couturiere Elsa SchiaparelliElsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Starting with knitwear, Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by Surrealists like her collaborators...
, who was renowned for her bold millinery designs and concepts.
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. 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.
Business history
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. 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
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
, and in 1952, she moved to Chesham Place, Belgravia
Belgravia
Belgravia is a district of central London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Noted for its immensely expensive residential properties, it is one of the wealthiest districts in the world...
, 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
Norman Hartnell
Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell, KCVO was a British fashion designer. Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to HM The Queen 1940, subsequently Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother...
, Hardy Amies
Hardy Amies
Hardy Amies, Ltd. is a British-based fashion house specialising in modern luxury menswear.-Sir Edwin Hardy Amies:Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, KCVO , was a British fashion designer, best known for his official title as dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth II, from her accession to the throne until his...
and Christian Dior
Christian Dior
Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...
. It was through Serge Mirman that Dior's licensed hosiery
Hosiery
Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as hose...
became established upon the London retail scene, 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
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. 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
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
by entering through the front door of the Palace. However, Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
, Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, 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
Cloche hat
The cloche hat is a fitted, bell-shaped hat for women that was invented by milliner Caroline Reboux in 1908, became especially popular during the 1920s, and continued to be commonly seen until about 1933. Cloche is the French word for "bell"....
densely covered with small flowers. Perhaps the best-known individual Simone Mirman hat for the Queen is the dramatic 1969 Tudor gable hood
Gable hood
A gable hood, English hood or gable headdress is an English woman's headdress of c. 1500–1550, so-called because its pointed shape resembles the gable of a house...
-inspired hat the Queen wore at the investiture
Investiture
Investiture, from the Latin is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent...
of the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
. In 2003 a number of Mirman's hats were displayed in the Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
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
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
and Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson
Valerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
, 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, and ultra-modern leather or plastic helmets with clear tinted PVC
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
visors in 1966. Ernestine Carter
Ernestine Carter
Ernestine Carter OBE was a museum curator, journalist, and writer on fashion.-Early history:Ernestine Marie Fantl was born on 10 October 1906 in Savannah, Georgia, where she was brought up. She studied modern and contemporary art and design at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, from which she...
chose one of these hats to complete the 1966 Dress Of The Year
Dress of The Year
The Dress of the Year is an annual fashion award run by the Fashion Museum, Bath from 1963. Each year since 1963, the Museum has asked a fashion journalist to select a dress or outfit that best represents the most important new ideas in contemporary fashion. For 2010 the Museum broke with tradition...
ensemble. 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.
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
Sock Shop
Sock Shop Limited is a British-based specialist retailer of socks and hosiery, founded in 1983 by Sophie Mirman and Richard P. Ross.-Concept:...
and the childrenswear boutique Trotters.
Retirement and death
Simone Mirman retired in 1990 and returned to France. She took up oil paintingOil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
as a hobby
Hobby
A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
and painted until her eyesight failed. She died in 2008 at the age of 96.
Simone Mirman quotes
-
- "If your features are even, you can wear a small hat even though your face is large. A small woman can wear a big hat in spite of all the warnings against it; but it must be in proportion to her size. She should never try to wear a hat to make her look taller. She'll fool no one about her size that way."