Peter Russell (fashion designer)

Peter Russell
Peter Russell at work in 1944. source: IWM
Born	1886 Cawston, Norfolk
Died	1966 Folkestone, England
Occupation	Fashion designer

Peter Russell was a London-based fashion designer and a founder member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers. Running a major couture house from the 1930s to the early 1950s, he has been described as a: "designer of beautiful, jauntily sophisticated women's suits".

Russell did not reveal much about his early life, although an article in The Sydney Morning Herald of 1953 states that before embarking on a career in fashion he was a horse rancher in Saskatchewan, Canada, a rubber planter in Malaya and a farmer in Norfolk, England. An article in the 1948 edition of Shopping placed his background in rural Norfolk and revealed he had served in the Royal Field Artillery in World War I before being injured. The article also stated that he first developed his design skills while working in Malaysia, initially by assisting the wife of a fellow rubber planter in creating a gown for the government house ball.

Researchers for the Victoria and Albert Museum have confirmed much of the above, and clarified that Russell was born Thomas Christmas Russell in Cawston, Norfolk in 1886, Russell moved to Canada in 1909 where he worked as a farmhand. In 1913 he was back in England, working for the costumiers Henry Reece Ltd, in Marylebone, London. Following his war service, and a short-lived marriage to Caroline Hilda Onions in 1918 (annulled in 1919), Russell moved to Malaya. By 1930, having assumed the name Peter, Russell had set himself up as a London dressmaker titled 'Peter Russell of Peter's Studio.' He relocated to Bruton Street the following year, and by 1934, 'Peter Russell Limited' also had a salon in Paris.

Peter Russell's first establishment was based at 82 Park Road, London. He relocated to 1 Bruton Street in 1931. In 1937 he moved again to 2 Carlos Place, Mayfair – one of the most fashionable quarters of London. Russell specialised in sporty suits and simple gowns.