Ginette Spanier
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Ginette Spanier | |
|---|---|
 Ginette Spanier, Marie Teresa and Pierre Balmain, 1960 | |
| Born | Jenny Yvonne Spanier 7 March 1904 |
| Died | April 1, 1988 (aged 84) |
| Occupation | Director of a fashion-house |
| Years active | 1947–1976 |
| Employer | House of Balmain |
| Spouse | Paul-Emile Seidmann |
Jenny Yvonne "Ginette" Spanier (7 March 1904 – 1 April 1988[1]) was a French director of the House of Balmain, a Paris fashion-house, and was decorated for her wartime work.
Spanier, who was Jewish, was born in Paris on 7 March 1904 and raised in Hampstead, London, England and attended Frognal School there.[2]
War years
While in Paris as a buyer for Fortnum & Mason, she met Paul-Emile Seidmann, a doctor. In 1939, they married.[2] Shortly afterwards, during World War II, they fled Nazi-occupied Paris by bicycle. She was subsequently awarded the Medal of Freedom for assisting the American Army of Liberation.[2][3] Seidmann was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for his work with concentration camp survivors.[2]
Balmain
After the war, the couple lived for many years on Paris' Avenue Maurice, and she became directrice (director) at Balmain from 1947 to 1976.[2] The first of her two volumes of autobiography, It isn't All Mink (1959), had a foreword by Noël Coward,[4] the second volume, And Now It's Sables (1970), had one by Maurice Chevalier.
Spanier appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 21 June 1965.[5] The programme was not archived by the BBC, but an unofficial tape copy was among a collection of over 90 episodes discovered by an amateur researcher and placed online in 2022.[6] She was also the guest on This Is Your Life on 9 February 1972.[citation needed]
Death
She retired, a widow, to London, and died there in April 1988.[2]
