Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/98
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 8 Nov. 1950 (Circa. Letter dated 'November 8th Wednesday'.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2 p. paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Photographer, artist, writer, and designer of scenery and costumes. Educated at Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge, 1922-5. Made his name as a photographer through portraits of the Sitwells. Employed by Vogue in London and New York. Published 'The Book of Beauty' (1930). Photographed the Duke of Windsor's wedding, 1937. War photographer, 1939-45. Designed 'Lady Windermere's Fan', 1945. Designed costumes for 'An Ideal Husband' and 'Anna Karenina', 1948. Worked on 'The School for Scandal', 1949, 'Quadrille' for Noel Coward, 1952, 'Turandot', 1961, and 'La Traviata', 1966. Designed costumes for 'My Fair Lady', 1956, and for the film version in Hollywood, 1963. His play 'The Gainsborough Girls', 1951 and 1959, was unsuccessful. Published 'The Glass of Fashion' (1954), and six volumes of diaries. Exhibited photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, 1968. Knighted 1972.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Complains that Paris is dreary. Describes a day trip to Fontainebleau. Mentions his regular morning visits to Diana Cooper, who is ill in bed. Encourages Garbo to make arrangements to meet him in America. Details of his lunch with 'black and white', who intimated that it was too late for he and Garbo to be married. Lists his activities in Paris including looking at Dior's clothes and lunching with Peter Watson. Looks forward to reading a letter from Garbo that awaits him on his return to London on Sunday.