Sheila Winifred Gordon Scotter, AM, MBE (2 December 1920 – 6 April 2012) was an Australian businesswoman. She was a fashion designer and third editor of the ''

Vogue Australia ''Vogue'' ''Australia'' is the Australian edition of '' Vogue'' magazine. Prior to becoming a stand-alone edition, the Australian edition operated as a supplement to British Vogue from 1952. The magazine is published by News Corp under a licence f ...

'' magazine. She also founded the ''

Vogue Living ''Vogue'' (stylized in all caps), also known as American ''Vogue'', is a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers style news, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. It is part of the global collection o ...

'' magazine. She was famous for always wearing black and white clothing and leaving her hair silver. This earned her the nickname, the Silver Duchess. She was honoured for her journalism and her fundraising for opera.

Biography

Sheila Scotter was born in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, India to parents Harold and Winifred. Harold was a former soldier who had fought alongside

T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First W ...

and now worked for the Bengal railways. She had two brothers. From the age of 4 she boarded at

St Swithun's School, Winchester St Swithun's School is an independent day, weekly and full-boarding school for girls in Winchester, Hampshire. It is named after Saint Swithun, a Bishop of Winchester and patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. History St Swithun's was founded ...

, England, and saw her parents only once every four years, although she had more frequent contact with her grandparents.McGinness, Mark (13 April 2012)
Mark McGinness, "'Silver duchess' cut a swath through society's upper crust"
''The Age'', 13 April 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2014 After leaving school, Scotter entered the fashion world as a model, working for people such as

Hardy Amies Sir Edwin Hardy Amies Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, KCVO (17 July 1909 – 5 March 2003) was a British fashion designer, founder of the Hardy Amies (fashion house), Hardy Amies label and a Royal Warrant holder as designer to El ...

. She came to Australia in 1949, basing herself in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. She worked as a high fashion buyer, promotions director, and Director of

Condé Nast Publications Condé is a French place name and personal name. It is ultimately derived from a Celtic word, "Condate", meaning "confluence" (of two rivers) - from which was derived the Romanised form "Condatum", in use during the Roman period, and thence to ...

before becoming Editor-in-Chief of ''Vogue Living'' and ''Vogue Australia'' 1962-71. She was known for her radio programs (''Sheila Scotter's Letters from London'' on 3AW in the 1970s) and newspaper columns (235 instalments of ''Sheila Scotter Suggests'' in ''

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known simply as ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before bein ...

'' 1975-80;Brotherhood Books
/ref> columns in ''Melbourne Living'' from 1982). Her ''Bedside Cookbook'' was published in 1980. She was a panelist on the TV program ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

''. She was a member of the board of

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...

1969-72, and the board of the

Victoria State Opera The Victoria State Opera (VSO), based in Melbourne, Australia, was founded in Melbourne in 1962. The company, founded by Leonard Spira, was a move into grand opera by the then amateur Gilbert and Sullivan-oriented Victorian Light Opera Co. The n ...

1980-83. Scotter was Foundation Vice-Chairman of the Victorian State Opera Foundation 1982-88, and Chairman of the Dame Joan Hammond Award 1988. She was considered a formidable fund raiser for artistic and other causes. Her trademark was the black-and-white garments she always wore throughout her adult life. The only exception she ever made was when she was persuaded to wear red for an occasion where she was advised no other colour would be appropriate. It turned out to be a surprise 70th birthday party for her, at which all the guests wore black-and-white.

Personal life

Sheila Scotter's two early marriages each lasted three years and ended in divorce. She married Geoffrey Batten-Pearce in London when she was 22 (he later had the marriage annulled), and Alan Ford McIntyre in Melbourne when she was 31 (he was granted the divorce on the grounds of refusal of conjugal rights and desertion). She claimed to have had a 13-year affair with

John Truscott John Edward Truscott (23 February 1936 – 5 September 1993) was an Australian actor, production designer, costume designer and artistic director. He won two Academy Awards for his work on the 1967 film '' Camelot''. Career Truscott began hi ...

. However, Truscott was at the very least bisexual: after his death it was alleged he had a poor reputation amongst Melbourne’s rent boys. Scotter’s 1998 memoir ''Sheila Scotter; Snaps, Stories and Secrets From My Life'' revealed a list of 24 other alleged former lovers, including

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until Disappearance of Harold Holt, his disappearance and presumed death in 1967. He held o ...

, Sir

Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family. Early life Frank Packer was born in ...

(she was godmother to Packer's daughter Gretel),Barrowclough, Nikki (4 June 2005). "A life in black and white", ''The Age'', Good Weekend, p. 41 Sir

Ian Potter Sir William Ian Potter (25 August 190224 October 1994), known as Ian Potter, was an Australian stockbroker, businessman and philanthropist. Potter was knighted in 1962. The Ian Potter Foundation, which he established in 1964, has made grants to ...

, Sir Brian Murray,Guinness, Daphne (14 March 1998), "Late Knight Confessions", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', Spectrum, p. 4s Sir Anthony Griffin, and Sir Robert Southey. Most of the men named had died before publication and had no opportunity to respond to the revelations. She was engaged at one time to the actor

Peter Pagan Peter MacGregor Pagan (24 July 1921 – 2 June 1999)''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration. was an Australian-American actor from Sydney best known for his role in '' The Overlanders'' (1946). Following the su ...

Honours

Sheila Scotter was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

on 13 June 1970 in recognition of her services to journalism and commerce. She was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

on 8 June 1992 in recognition of her fundraising for the arts.It's an Honour: AM
/ref> Scotter died, aged 91, in Albert Park, Melbourne on 6 April 2012. At her request, she was buried in the Dandenongs near Melbourne, next to her friend and former lover,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scotter, Sheila 1920 births 2012 deaths Australian magazine editors Australian women magazine editors Australian fashion designers Australian women fashion designers Australian columnists Australian women columnists Businesspeople from Melbourne Members of the Order of Australia Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire British emigrants to Australia People educated at St Swithun's School, Winchester British people in colonial India Vogue (magazine) people