AustLit

'In the 1920s, after the austerity of World War I, women celebrated their new-found freedoms through fashion. Their role in society had changed for good, and the constraints of a bygone era, like those of a corset, were joyously discarded. Nowhere was this more so than Paris. In far-away Melbourne, women craved these new found freedoms. It was against this backdrop that Lillian Wightman opened her fashion atelier, Le Louvre, bringing to Melbourne a Parisienne mood that nurtured women. Women flocked to Le Louvre. It indulged them and cossetted them and gave them the opportunity to express themselves and enjoy their fledgling independence. Lillian’s daughter Georgina Weir would later assume the reins, bringing her own dramatic change by introducing ready-to-wear fashion to Melbourne. The days of fittings, made-to-order outfits and couture began to fade, but the Le Louvre benchmarks of personal attention, individuality, quality, and style did not. Lillian Wightman and Georgina Weir are the visionary women behind the icon Le Louvre. For nearly a century, Le Louvre has helped to shape and define the spirit of Melbourne-for fashion at this level is an art from that reflects and can also progress the society in which it exists.'  (Publication summary)