The illegitimate child of a dressmaker in south-west France, Jenny Sacerdote went on to run one of the world’s biggest fashion empires of the early 20th century. Yet she fell into oblivion. Nearly a century later, her avant-garde designs and entrepreneurial spirit have inspired a French stylist to tell her story and bring some of the frocks back to the catwalk.
Sacerdote dressed the likes of the Empress of Japan, silent-picture actress Mary Pickford and French tennis ace Suzanne Lenglen. In the US, where she was known simply as “Jenny”, her little grey suit became as famous as Chanel’s little black dress.
