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Duquette and Wilkinson
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Tony Duquette was said to have been discovered by Lady Elsie de Wolfe Mendl, the international arbiter of taste--what a stirring way to begin ones career! Throughout his life, Duquette lived and designed in the most lavish of fashion, and exoticism and excess best describe the foundation of his work. The more the better: more adornment, more color, more texture, more money. You could say Duquette was the designer of more.
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| Duquette's office at Drawbridge |
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| Duquette's famed studio |
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Entrance to Sortilegium
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Duquette began his luxist career as a designer for Metro Goldwyn Mayer productions under the watchful eyes of the great Arthur Freed and Vincent Minnelli. He created costumes and set designs for the studio's pictures. As Duquette's studio career began to take off, so did his work with interiors. . . then he went to War, can you imagine the flamboyant Duquette at war--did he bring his satin cape? Anyway...When he returned in 1948, Duquette got back into business with his wife (Yes, wife. Affectionately nicknamed "Beegle") and worked with clients such as: Vincente Minnelli, Elizabeth Arden, Doris Duke, Mary Pickford, J. Paul Getty, David O. Selznick and the Duchess of Windsor.
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| Set for the opera "The Magic Flute" |
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Dolores Grey-costume by Duquette* *notice the cape |
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Tony Award Winning costumes for "Camelot"
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During the late 1970's Duquette formed the Anthony and Elizabeth Duquette Foundation for the Living Arts, a non-profit public foundation whose purpose was to present museum quality exhibitions of artistic, scientific and educational value to the public. Duquette's foundation is yet another example of the many hats a contemporary designer can wear--he was a designer, businessman, and philanthropist all wrapped up in a neat, velvety, and sparkly cape.
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| Tony and Beegle |
Duquette's legacy lives on through his design studio, now managed solely by his business partner Hutton Wilkinson. Duquette's style is also furthered today by retailers who sell his furnishings and design/art objects, not to mention his two books: "More is More" and "Tony Duquette".
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| 1980's, Wilkinson and Duquette |
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