Madge Garland
Madge Garland (born Madge McHarg; 12 June 1898 – 15 July 1990) was a key figure in British fashion. She started as a journalist and editor for Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily, and later moved into industry advisory work. She helped form the London Fashion Group, a forerunner to the British Fashion Council, and in 1948 she founded the first fashion course at the Royal College of Art.
Garland was born in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up in London and Paris. She left home at 21 to work in Fleet Street. In 1922 she joined Vogue UK as a receptionist and tea girl, and quickly rose to become fashion editor. She worked closely with editor Dorothy Todd, and for a time they were life partners. Garland used her sharp eye for style to gain access to influential people and events.
She helped bring photographers like Cecil Beaton to Vogue and covered couture fashion in Paris. During World War II she worked for Bourne & Hollingsworth, handling merchandising and sometimes designing. She also helped recruit designers such as Hardy Amies.
After the war, Garland advised the fashion industry and helped form the London Fashion Group with Norman Hartnell, Peter Russell, Victor Stiebel and Edward Molyneux. In 1947 she traveled to Paris on a government-backed mission to buy New Look accessories for the UK and studied American ready-to-wear.
In 1948 she became the first professor of fashion at the Royal College of Art. She built the course by bringing in industry teachers and creating links between art schools and fashion houses. She trained many designers, including Gina Fratini and David Sassoon, and inspired Hardy Amies to start his own label. She left the RCA in 1956 after the first full graduation show.
Garland continued to advise the fashion industry and wrote several books, including The Changing Face of Beauty (1957), The Changing Face of Fashion (1970) and A History of Fashion (1975). She was a founding member of the Contemporary Art Society and was the subject of portraits by artists such as Marie Laurencin and Edward Wolfe.
Her private life was private and sometimes controversial. She had a long partnership with Dorothy Todd. In 1953 she married Sir Leigh Ashton; the marriage ended in 1962 and produced no children. She is also said to have had relationships with other women.
Garland died in London in 1990, aged 92.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:11 (CET).