Digby morton biography

Henry Digby Morton (1906–1983) was an Irish fashion designer and among the leading names of British couture in the period from 1930-50.
He was born Digby Henry Morton on the 27th November, 1906 in Dublin, his father and grandfather had been accountants for Guinness and it looked as if he would.
Digby Morton was born on November 27, 1906 in Dublin, Ireland.

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Morton, Digby

Irish designer

Born: Digby (Henry) Morton in Dublin, 27 November 1906. Education: Studied architecture at the Metropolitan School of Art and Architecture, Dublin, 1923; London Polytechnic. Family: Married Phyllis May Painting, 1936. Career: Worked as sketch artist, Jay's fashion store, Oxford Street, London, 1928; founded tailoring firm of Lachasse in Farm St, Mayfair, London, 1928; own house established, 1934, closed, 1957; founded Reldan-Digby Morton, 1958; founding member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, 1942; designer of Utility clothing for British government, 1942; film costume designer in Hollywood during World War II; established Digby Morton (Exports) Ltd. for marketing British womenswear to the U.S., 1947; Digby Morton for Jacqmar collection, 1950; designer, and vice president, 1955-58, Hathaway Shirt Company, New York; designer/director, Reldan-Digby Morton, 1958-73; designed Women's Voluntary Services uniform, 1939. Awards: Aberfoyle International Fashion award, New York, 1956. Died: 1983, in London.

Publications

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A shorter version of this article appeared online.

Phyllis Digby Morton was a pioneer – a ground-breaking female journalist in an era when Fleet Street was dominated by men. Appointed as editor of a new women’s magazine in 1930 when she was only 29, she launched an innovative advice column dealing with such taboo subjects as sex and infidelity. She became one the best-known fashion and beauty writers of the day – and her marriage to the society couturier Henry Digby Morton (known as Digby) confirmed her celebrity status. Yet today her name is largely forgotten.

Phyllis was born in the first year of the 20^th century, the youngest of six children, to a middle-class literary family in Brixton, south London. Her father, James Harwood Panting, was a successful writer of adventure stories and children’s magazine editor (it was Panting who first published Treasure Island, as a serial) and her godfather was HG Wells. A free spirit from the start, in March 1917 Phyllis ran away to get married at Kensington Registry Office at the age of 16 (she falsified her birthdate on the

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Phyllis Digby Morton

British fashion journalist

Phyllis May Digby-Morton, born Phyllis May Panting, (1901^[1] – 28 April 1984^[2]) was a British fashion journalist who was the innovative editor of Woman and Beauty. During the Second World War she survived an attack by a German U-boat on a ship on which she and her husband were travelling.

Early life

Phyllis Panting was the daughter of James Harwood Panting, a writer of school stories for boys, and Bertha Emily Panting. She was born in Brixton, London, in 1901 where she lived at the family home of 47 Beechdale, Brixton Hill with her parents, her sister Ruth and her brothers Ray and Arnold.^[3] Panting was educated at St Paul's Girls' School, and her early career was in the BBC drama department where she wrote scripts and acted.^[2] She was a member of the London Radio Repertory Players in the 1920s.^[4] By the late 1920s Panting was in journalism and editor of the children's paper My Favourite.^[5]

Marriage

In 1917, a Phyllis M. Panting married