Full Name Cornelia Katz Spouse(s) Jack James | Occupation Glovemaker Children Peter James | |
 | ||
Born 11 March 1917 Vienna, Austria Known for founder of Cornelia James Died 10 December 1999, Hove, United Kingdom Alma mater Academy of Fine Arts Vienna | ||
Cornelia James (11 March 1917 – 10 December 1999) was a British glovemaker and businesswoman of Austrian origin, and the founder of the firm of glovemakers that bears her name.
Contents
Early life
Cornelia James was born Cornelia Katz in Vienna on 11 March 1917, the eldest of seven children of a family who ran a chain of grocery shops and a cold storage business.
She left Vienna in 1939, immediately after having finished studying fashion design at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (the same college that rejected Adolf Hitler). She left for Paris and then London, with "a suitcase full of the coloured leather".
Career
Katz arrived in London a refugee but soon set up in business making gloves. In 1947, she was asked by the dress designer Norman Hartnell to make the "going-away" gloves for the then Princess Elizabeth to take on her honeymoon, following her impending marriage to Prince Phillip, and she made several pairs for the Princess's trousseau. Thus began her long association with the British royal family. Fellow royal couturier Hardy Amies also appreciated her colourful designs. In 1948, she became known as "the Colour Queen of England" after launching her leather gloves range in 100 different shades.
Her first workshop was on Davigdor Road in Hove, near Brighton, and was established by 1947. The business peaked in the 1950s, when she was known as "the Queen's favourite glovemaker" and had between 250 and 500 workers in her factory in a former dairy in Brighton; but the popularity of wearing fashion gloves declined. Her products were still popular with royalty, though, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the Princess Royal and Diana, Princess of Wales all wore her gloves—as did members of the Belgian, Dutch and Swedish royal families. The firm of Cornelia James finally became Royal Warrant holders in 1979, and they are the Queen's official glovemaker.
Personal life
On arriving in London, she had hoped to get a United States visa, but met Jack Burnett James and married him six weeks later in 1940 (although she had been engaged before leaving Vienna). Their son Peter James (born 1948) is a best-selling writer of crime fiction. Their daughter, Genevieve Lawson, runs Cornelia James.
Death
James died at the Martlets Hospice in Hove, Sussex, England, on 10 December 1999. She had been an active supporter of the hospice and other charities throughout her time in Sussex.