Alison Settle (1891–1980)

Alison Towers Settle, née Alison Violet de Froideville Fuchs, was born in London, England. Her parents were Margaret Campbell Munro and Georg Friedrich Gotthilf Fuchs, a former officer in the Prussian army and descendant of an aristocratic European family. Her older brother became a well-known zoologist under the name Harold Munro Fox. She began her career as a journalist in 1910 working for the Sunday Pictorial. During World War I, she wrote for several other newspapers. In 1918, she married Alfred Towers Settle, a barrister, with whom she had two children. Her husband died in 1926 and she had to support the family. She became the editor of British Vogue, a position she held from 1926 to 1935, and served on several government committees charged with improving British design and taste. After leaving Vogue, she published a book called Clothes Line (1937). That same year, she became the fashion editor of The Observer, retiring in 1960. She also was a fashion columnist for The Lady for 27 years until 1972. Her book Fashion As a Career was published in 1963. She was awarded the OBE in 1961.