Victor Stiebel

Victor Stiebel
Victor Stiebel, photograph by Cecil Beaton
Born	14 March 1907 Durban, South Africa
Died	6 February 1976 London, England
Education	Jesus College, Cambridge
Occupation	Fashion designer

Victor Frank Stiebel (1907–1976) was a South African-born British couturier. A founder member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, he was among the top ten designers in Britain in the war and post-war years. Among his more famous designs was the going-away outfit for Princess Margaret's wedding in 1960.

Victor Frank Stiebel was born in 1907 in Durban, South Africa. He arrived in Britain in 1924 to study architecture at Jesus College, Cambridge.

Having designed for theatre wardrobe at university, he worked as a dress designer for the House of Reville for three years beginning in 1929. Founded by Wallace Reville Terry and Miss Rossiter, Reville (also known as Reville-Terry and Reville & Rossiter) was one of the foremost court dressmakers and fashion houses in London before the First World War. Here Stiebel learned the art of fashion design, this being the method by which the trade was learned prior to fashion design courses being established at the art schools.

Steibel opened his own fashion house at 22 Bruton Street, just off Berkeley Square in 1932. This proved so successful that he was able to expand the showroom to the Georgian ballroom next door within a year. He was assisted by his sister Noelle Stiebel, who managed much of the business's administration. Celebrated interior designer Syrie Maugham created the all-white decor that was her trademark style and Constance Spry – who later became a firm friend – supplied the flowers for the showroom and his twice-yearly fashion shows.

Vogue said of his designs: "Stiebel has taken the lives and hearts and aspirations of Englishwomen and transmuted them into clothes, adding that touch of the artist, something that is rich and strange and exciting."

Stiebel enlisted for the Second World War in 1940, closing his house, but he was allowed to continue designing while involved with the services thanks to his involvement as a founder member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, his designs being manufactured as part of the war effort using government stock fabrics. Called "Utility Fashion", each designer in the scheme produced a coat, dress, suit and shirt or blouse.