Interior Designer Elsie de Wolf – A Rebel in an Ugly World

Elsie de Wolfe referred to herself as a “rebel in an ugly world”. During Elsie’s heyday from 1926 until her death in 1950, the rest of the world simply called her Lady Mendl.

In 1913, Elsie wrote what may have been one of the first great books on interior design, The tasteful house. She became well known in New York, Paris, and London, and was believed by some to be the first person to invent the profession of interior design. Whether or not that is the case, Elsie de Wolfe could include highly influential people among her clientele, such as Ann Vanderbilt, the Duchess of Windsor, and Adelaide Frick.

Elsie’s decorating style often featured light, fresh colors, and she was responsible for lighting up the interiors of some of the most impressive Victorian homes of her day. She was NOT a fan of the dark nature of traditional Victorian decor and worked diligently to change it as much as possible.

Interestingly, Elsie de Wolfe started out as an actress, making her stage debut in 1890 as a member of the Empire Stock Company. He later formed his own joint-stock company and became interested in interior design while working on sets for plays. In 1903, he definitely left the theater to pursue his passion for home decoration.

Her first commission came in 1905, in a building at 120 Madison Avenue in New York City, which became the city’s premier women’s social club. (In an ironic twist of fate, that building now houses the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.) Elsie’s success in that project led her to a very lucrative career, earning a million dollars over a period of twenty years; a considerable sum at the time.

When she married the diplomat Sir Charles Mendl in 1926, the New York Times described Lady Mendl as “one of the best known women in New York social life.” It was even mentioned in one of the popular songs of the time, Irving Berlin’s “Harlem on My Mind,” in which the legendary composer mentions a “soaring floor designed by Lady Mendl.”

In 1935, experts in Paris named Lady Mendl the best dressed woman in the world, which was high praise, coming from the most well-known place in the world for haute couture at the time. In both her clothing and her interior design, she lived by the motto she had embroidered on the taffeta pillows in her living room: “Never complain, never explain.”