Nancy Lancaster and John Fowler

Nancy Lancaster was born Nancy Keene Perkins in Virginia in 1897, her father was a Virginia cotton broker, she was raised in homes in Richmond, VA and New York City. Her first husband was Henry Field, an heir to the Marshall Field’s department store fortune, but he died 5 months into their marriage after becoming ill in the flu epidemic of 1918. In 1920, she married her deceased husband’s cousin, Ronald Tree, and the new couple moved to England. Nancy was known to have a natural talent and excellent taste in all things decorative and it became very apparent after she moved to England and began decorating homes for her family. In 1933, Ronald Tree was elected to Parliament and he and his wife began traveling in powerful social and political circles. Nancy Lancaster teamed up with decorator John Fowler and founded Colefax & Fowler, the firm known for popularizing Country House decor, the look is characterized by brightly colored walls, use of chintz fabric, the use of furniture from different periods of time. Nancy Lancaster has left behind a legacy of not only Colefax & Fowler but also shaking up the stringent decorating rules of British decor, as Mario Buatta put it, “after Nancy blew into town, England loosened up and started looking more personal and lived-in.”(Tabulousdesign.com) John Fowler (1906-1977) was not a member of the elite social circles that Sibyl was accustomed to, but a professional artisan and skilled interior decorator with specialisms in wallpaper, printing and upholstery. He had lost his job at the paint firm Thornton Smith in the downturn following the Wall Street Crash. His skills however, had led antique dealer and decorator Margaret Kunzer to enlist him in her furniture restoration activities supplying Peter Jones department store. John Fowler’s expertise also gave him opportunities to work with Mrs Guy Bethell whose own shop off Grosvenor Square had connected her to Nancy and Ronald Tree. By 1934, John had set up his own small business as John Beresford Fowler Ltd in King’s Road Chelsea, and a stone’s throw from Sibyl Colefax’s Argyll House. By setting up his wares in his garden on a daily basis it was only a matter of time before this society hostess would snap him up. By 1938 Sibyl Colefax was living at Lord North Street and when he joined her company as partner, John Fowler was one of the most sought after decorators. (Tweedleandthegentlemansclub)