Unsinkable Lucile: How a Farm Girl Became the Queen of Fashion and Survived the Titanic

Unsinkable Lucile is an impressively illustrated book relating the life story of Lucile Christiana Sutherland. Lucy moved from London, England, with her mother and younger sister, after the death of her father and grew up on her grandparents’ farm near Guelph, Ontario. When her mother remarried, they moved back to London and then to the Channel Islands. At the age of 28, Lucy found herself living in London with a small child to support after her own marriage failed. And there began a turn of events that propelled Lucile to the top of the Edwardian fashion world.

Lucille was not only a fashion designer. Her designs and the creative promotion of her designs were revolutionary. She began using her dress shop girls as fashion models, created costumes for the London theatre, introduced the “mannequin parade”; the first fashion show, and started “a worldwide craze” for large women’s hats in the Edwardian era. Lucile salons were opened in London, New York and Paris.

In 1912, Lucile had to leave Paris quickly to open a new salon in New York. The first available ship was the Titanic. With her husband, Scottish landowner Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon whom she had married in 1900, they boarded the luxury ship. When the ship hit the iceberg and the last lifeboat was to be launched, a ship’s officer told the Gordons to get into the boat. Their lifeboat, with a capacity for 40, ended up with only 12 passengers. When they arrived safely in New York, Lucy described their fortunate escape. When her story was retold to a news reporter, it resulted in a defamatory story causing the Duff Gordon scandal. Although the charges at the inquiry were found to be untrue, the scandal damaged Lucile and her husband’s reputations. Still, with her indomitable spirit, she continued to create and inspire.

In Unsinkable Lucile, Hugh Brewster, author and historian, provides the reading audience with a well-crafted true story that will pique interest at different levels. The almost ‘picture book’ format is captivating. The sections are divided according to the timeline and key events of Lucile’s life. Each time period consists of a flowing narrative with a clear font and is accompanied by historical photographs with captions and beautiful, detailed paintings. The artwork is by award-winning illustrator and portrait artist Laurie McGaw. A glossary provides information for some of the unfamiliar words.

A book with a Canadian connection to fashion design and the Titanic will attract the attention of middle years readers. As they engage in the biography of a revolutionary fashion creator and a captivating account related to the historical sinking of the Titanic, readers will discover a unique historical era. The narrative and pictures allude to topics that might be unfamiliar but interesting for this age group to explore. Class and gender distinctions, invention and fashion might be a motivation to read other historical accounts and research new topics of interest. Hugh Brewster has been involved with previous works on the subject of the Titanic and has written several historical based books for young readers.

Unsinkable Lucile is a fascinating, easy-to-read true story that will invite its audience to explore an intriguing era of the past.