Audrey Withers
Audrey Withers | |
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Vogue | |
Spouse(s) | Alan Hay Stewart (1933–1952) Victor Asarius Kennett (1953–1980) |
Elizabeth Audrey Withers
While she used her own name professionally, in some other contexts she was known by her married names, Mrs A. H. Stewart from 1933 to 1952 and Mrs Victor Kennett from 1953 until her death.
Early life
Withers was born at Hale in Lancashire (a parish later transferred to Cheshire), the daughter of Dr Percy Withers (1867–1945), a physician and author, by his marriage to Mary Wolley Summers (1870–1947).[1] Her mother, who had lost both parents at an early age, belonged to a family which owned John Summers & Sons, a company operating a steelworks on the Wirral, and was herself a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford.[2] The family soon moved to the Lake District, where Withers grew up with an older sister and a younger brother on the shores of Derwent Water. The girls were first educated at home by a governess.[2] Their father had literary friends, including the Poet Laureate, Robert Bridges, and the artist Paul Nash.[1]
Withers went as a
Career
Hoping for a career in publishing, Withers took a job in a London bookshop, J. and E. Bumpus, then worked in the advertising section of a book publisher. During the
During the war years Condé Nast treated Vogue as part of the war effort, printing advice and information, often from British government ministries. Women's magazines were powerful, and Vogue was a favourite publication of the
On the home front, Withers joined the
After the end of the world war, Withers promoted advanced causes, and alongside its traditional coverage of beauty and fashion Vogue developed a highbrow streak, publishing articles by
Surprisingly, apart from hats, Withers lacked an interest in fashion,[6] so she delegated fashion coverage to others. She later wrote
I am very well aware that I would not have been an appropriate editor of Vogue at any other period in its history. I had come up through copy-writing and administration, with no fashion training.[7]
She resigned as editor of Vogue in 1960, sensing a wind of change.[2]
Private life
On 2 September 1933 Withers married Alan Hay Stewart, a salesman known as "Jock", who was the son of a musician. The marriage was childless and ended in divorce in 1952. On 20 February 1953 she married Victor Asarius Kennett (1895–1980), a Russian photographer whom she had first met in New York City during the war. With her second husband she lived on a farm, and while still at Vogue divided her time between London and the country. After her retirement they travelled widely, not least in the Soviet Union.[2]
With Kennett she produced a book, The Palaces of Leningrad (1973), the fruit of nine visits to the city.[8] They also collaborated on the introduction to In the Russian Style (1975), edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.[2] In the 1980s Withers became a volunteer in the membership department of David Owen's Social Democratic Party, a centre-left breakaway from the Labour Party. Many years after her husband's death she published an autobiography called Lifespan (1994) and herself died on 26 October 2001 at St Mary's Hospital, London, aged ninety-six.[1]
Honours
In 1954 Withers was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[1]
In 1961 she was the winner of the Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, an award given to "a person who, in a manner other than as an industrial designer, has applied art and design to great effect as instruments of civic innovation".[9]
Notes
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(Oxford University Press, 2005)
- ^ a b c d e f g h 'Audrey Withers, Editor of Vogue during the years of war and austerity when prettiness mattered more than chic', Obituary in The Times, issue 67284 dated 31 October 2001, p. 19
- ^ a b Christopher Breward & Caroline Evans, Fashion and Modernity, p. 43
- ^ a b Lindy Woodhead, War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden (2003), p. 259: "Miss Blanche and all her colleagues at the magazine, led by editor Audrey Withers, braved the bombing of their offices and bicycled to work, dodging the debris, but still looking soignée in suits from Creed, Goodbrook, Angèle Delanghe, Lachasse, Ravhis and Bradleys."
- ISBN 0500542449), pp. 8–9, 204
- ^ Beyfus (2005): "Neither did she have a personal interest in fashion..."
- ^ Audrey Withers, Lifespan: an autobiography (1994), p. 54
- ^ 'The Palaces of Leningrad, by Victor and Audrey Kennett' in The Times, issue 58951 dated 29 November 1973, p. VII
- ^ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, vol. 133 (Published for the Society by George Bell, 1985), p. 254
External links
- Audrey Withers portraits at npg.org.uk (National Portrait Gallery, London)