The 2021 Walpole Women in Luxury Dinner took place on Thursday 9th September at The Connaught in London, where we were joined by author and former Harper's Bazaar Editor in Chief Justine Picardie, who discussed her newest book Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture with Walpole CEO Helen Brocklebank.
All proceeds from the event will go to Walpole's charity partner the NSPCC, and Walpole would like to thank the following members for their generosity in supplying gifts for the raffle: Jo Malone London; Stephen Einhorn; The Hari; The Ned; Smythson; Tiffany & Co.; Johnstons of Elgin; Equi; and Eto. Thanks also to The Connaught, WildAbout, and Noble Isle.
"On paper, Catherine Dior is an unlikely heroine. Born into the prosperous Dior family in 1917, the youngest of five children, she seemed destined for a decorative existence. But when the family’s fortune suddenly vanished due to failed real estate ventures, a life of leisure seemed far less inevitable. In 1935, the teenage Catherine moved from the family’s stately home in Granville, Villa Les Rhumbs, to a dilapidated farmhouse in Provence. She soon escaped to live with her older brother Christian in Paris, selling accessories for a fashion house while he peddled his sketches.
When World War II broke out, the siblings returned to the South of France and grew vegetables that they sold in nearby Cannes. It was there, after Christian had returned to the capital in search again of the “atmosphere of chiffon,” that Catherine would meet and fall in love with Hervé des Charbonneries, a married father of three and member of the Resistance. As Justine Picardie relates, Catherine’s life then took another unexpected turn: By 1941, she had joined the Resistance, using the code name Caro. "
Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue
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