Percy Savage
| Percy Savage | |
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Percy Savage in December 1998
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| Born |
Donald Percival Savage 12 October 1926 Brisbane, Queensland |
| Died | 12 August 2008 (aged 81) London, England |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Fashion publicist, designer, artist |
| Years active | 1947–2008 |
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Donald Percival "Percy" Savage (12 October 1926 – 12 August 2008) was an Australian fashion publicist, designer, artist, raconteur and bon viveur. He left Australia as a 20-year-old, and spent the rest of his life living and working in Europe. He was the first person to be employed in a public relations capacity in Haute Couture and is considered to be the original inspiration and instigator of celebrity fashion publicity. During the 1950s and 1960s, Savage was regarded as 'the undisputed prince of public relations for the Paris fashion world.'
Percy Savage was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on 12 October 1926. He was the son of Marjorie Hall, an accomplished musician, and Major Percival Savage, DSO, an engineer in the First Australian Imperial Force in the First World War, serving as an ANZAC in Gallipoli.
Savage grew up on a fruit farm named Purple Patch in Brookfield on the outskirts of Brisbane with two younger sisters, Mary (b. 1928) and Betty (b. 1930). During his youth, he sustained several injuries from horse riding including a broken shoulder. He was attacked by dingoes twice. When he was 15 years old, he was bitten by a death adder and severed the little finger on his left hand with a hoe to save his own life. This incident would later be immortalised in a portrait of Savage by Jean Cocteau with the words 'the angel has three fingers'.
Savage attended Ipswich Grammar School. When he was 18, he moved to Sydney to study art.
In 1947, he left Australia to attend London's Slade School of Art on a Commonwealth scholarship. Upon his arrival, Savage was uninspired by post-war London and headed to Paris within two weeks. He enrolled in l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts and worked part-time as a newspaper proofreader.
Savage graduated in art history and began designing silk scarves for the fashion house Lanvin, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and his close friend, Christian Dior. In 1951, he became the fashion industry's first head of public relations when he took on the newly created role of 'chef de publicité' at Lanvin, a position he held for seven years.
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