Explore: Lydia Kemeny

(1925 - 4 January 2012)

Illustrator, designer, artist and fashion journalist, Lydia Kemeny began her career at Vogue magazine in 1945. She later produced fashion illustrations for Shopping and Harper’s Bazaar and designs for Wolsey, Yardley, Revlon and Elizabeth Arden’s advertising campaigns. Kemeny was appointed a lecturer at St Martin’s School of Art in 1972 and became Head of Fashion and Textiles in 1976. Many of the students she taught at the college are now some of the most well-known names in British and international fashion, including Bill Gibb, Rifat Ozbek and John Galliano. In 1988 Kemeny became Reader in Fashion for the London Institute and was based at the London College of Fashion. She became a Fellow of the London Institute in 1996. She died in London on 4 January 2012.