Ginette Spanier

Ginette Spanier (1904 - 1988) was director of the House of Balmain, a Paris fashion-house, and was decorated for her wartime work.

Early life
Spanier was born in Paris on 7 March 1904 and raised in Hampstead, London, England and attended Frognal School there.

War years
While in Paris as a buyer for Fortnum & Mason, she met Paul-Emile Seidmann, a doctor. In 1939, they married. Shortly afterwards, during World War II, they fled Nazi-occupied Paris by bicycle. She was subsequently decorated for assisting the American Army of Liberation. Seidmann was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for his work with concentration camp survivors.

Balmain
She was subsequently directrice (director) at Balmain from 1947 to 1976. The first of her two volumes of autobiography, It isn't All Mink (1959), had a foreword by Noel Coward.

She appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 21 June 1965.

Death
She retired, a widow, to London, and died there in April 1988.