Rose Valois

Rose Valois was the name of a millinery establishment in Paris founded in 1927 by Madame Fernand Cleuet, Vera Leigh, and one other.^[1] It closed in 1970.^[2][3] During its time, it was considered one of the leading milliners of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.^[2]

The founders of Rose Valois had all worked with Caroline Reboux, leaving in 1927 to found their own salon.^[2] Rose was Mme Cleuet's first name, and Valois was a construct made up from the initials of Vera Leigh and the other (as yet unidentified) woman.^[1][4] Leigh left Rose Valois in 1940,^[4] which remained in business through the occupation of France by enemy German forces during World War II,^[5] despite Leigh's later involvement as a member of the French Resistance, leading to her arrest and execution by the Germans in 1944.^[3] Rose's husband, Fernand Cleuet (d. June 1961) was chief executive officer of the establishment.^[6]

Simone Mirman, who later found fame as one of London's foremost milliners in the 1940s-1960s, served her apprenticeship with Valois.^[7]