Without a doubt the most glam passenger to survive the Titanic disaster was the fashion designer Lady Duff-Gordon (1863 – 1935).
Known widely as "Lucile" (her nom du mode), Lady Duff-Gordon was the first British fashion designer to achieve international fame and her followers within the British Royal family, and the reigning aristocracy were legion. She survived the Titanic disaster alongside one of her illustrious clients, Madeleine Astor, wife of the millionaire industrialist John Jacob Astor, and attached is the great couturier's account that describes the pandemonium she witnessed on deck, the screams heard as Titanic began her plunge and the sun coming up the next morning. Among that chaos, there is little doubt that as these two women were seen boarding the lifeboats, the steerage passengers were quick to recognize that a first class ticket would have been a wise investment:
"I shall never forget the beauty of that April dawn, stealing over the cold Atlantic, lighting up the icebergs till they looked like giant opals. As we saw other boats rowing alongside, we imagined that most passengers on the Titanic had been saved, like us; not one of us even guessed the appalling truth..."
Click here to read a 1917 fashion article by "Lucile"...
Click here to read additional primary source articles about the Titanic disaster.
Few onboard Titanic were braver than the ship's musicians...
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