Ginette Spanier discovered her talent for ‘selling very expensive things to very rich people’ at Fortnum and Mason in the 1930s. This uninhibited and amusing account takes her from hiding in occupied France to the world of haute couture, as Directrice of the House of Balmain from 1947 to 1976 and friend to stars of stage and screen including Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich and Vivien Leigh.First published in 1959, this book is part of the V&A Fashion Perspectives Series. Selected by V&A publishing in consultation with our world-leading fashion curators, the Fashion Perspectives series offers an access all areas pass to the glamorous world of fashion. Models, magazine editors and the designers themselves take readers behind the scenes at the likes of Balenciaga, Balmain, Chanel, Dior, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue in the golden age of couture.

Ginette Spanier discovered her talent for ‘selling very expensive things to very rich people’ at Fortnum and Mason in the 1930s. This uninhibited and amusing account takes her from hiding in occupied France to the world of haute couture, as Directrice of the House of Balmain from 1947 to 1976 and friend to stars of stage and screen including Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich and Vivien Leigh.First published in 1959, this book is part of the V&A Fashion Perspectives Series. Selected by V&A publishing in consultation with our world-leading fashion curators, the Fashion Perspectives series offers an access all areas pass to the glamorous world of fashion. Models, magazine editors and the designers themselves take readers behind the scenes at the likes of Balenciaga, Balmain, Chanel, Dior, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue in the golden age of couture.