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Lucie Clayton College was founded by Sylvia Lucie Golledge in 1928 as a modelling agency and finishing school. It was bought by Leslie Kark who owned a successful model directory. It became Britain's top modelling agency during the 1950s and 1960s with Evelyn Gordine as the principal. Gordine (later Kark) was the business's public face using the name "Lucie Clayton".

Later History

Sylvia Lucie Golledge founded the organisation in 1928 as a modelling agency and finishing school. It had offices in Oxford Street. It was bought by Leslie Kark who owned a successful model directory named "Model". Kark's personal assistant Evelyn Gordine became the principal. Another employee in the office was Muriel Spark (before she was a full-time novelist). Gordine used the name "Lucie Clayton" as her business name.ODNB, Kark [née Gordine], Evelyn Florence [known as Lucie Clayton] (1928–1997), college head,weblink 7 October 2020, 2004, 10.1093/ref:odnb/65698, 978-0-19-861412-8, In 1956 the owner, Leslie, and the principal, Evelyn, married and it was the Karks who ran the business. Modelling became a higher status profession in Britain and the business moved to 66 New Bond Street.The modelling agency closed in the late 1970s but the school now prepared their charges for "the Season".WEB, 'We used to weigh the students...',weblink 7 October 2020, Tes, During the 1960s the alumni of the school included Sandra Paul, Celia Hammond and Joanna Lumley, who actually had careers modelling. Many of the students did not expect to enter a modelling career and the business became a de facto finishing school.In the early 1990s, Lucie Clayton reinvented itself as a secretarial and business college. The courses ranged from a few days up to a full year and included skills such as shorthand to IT to budgeting, marketing, public relations, law and personal development. Along the way, students may have picked up the odd City & Guilds or London Chamber of Commerce & Industry professional qualification. At the end of the course they left with Lucie Clayton's certificate. The list of employers associated with the college includes Amanda Wakeley, Arthur Andersen, Hermes, JWT, the BBC, Vogue, and Schroders.NEWS, John Crace gets a grooming at the finishing school that reinvented itself,weblink The Guardian, 10 April 2001, In 2007, Lucie Clayton College merged with two secretarial colleges, Queen's College and St James's College, to form Quest Business Training. Today it is known as "Quest Professional" and it has moved to Grosvenor Gardens.NEWS, History of Quest,weblink www.questprofessional.co.uk, Lucie Clayton House in South Kensington, London was converted into seven serviced apartments.NEWS, Lucie Clayton House: A model lesson in home-making,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090127014034weblink">weblink dead, 27 January 2009, The Telegraph, 24 November 2007,

Notable faculty

• Evelyn Kark - Principal of the agency
• Jean Broke-Smith - Headteacher in Ladette to Lady.

Notable alumni

• Jemma Kidd - countess, make up artist, modelNEWS, 'I'm a low-maintenance woman',weblink The Guardian, 9 April 2006,
• Fiona Campbell-Walter - model, socialite
• Anne Dunhill - novelist, translator, and granddaughter of Alfred Dunhill
• Celia Hammond - campaigner and founder of Celia Hammond Animal Trust
• Joanna Lumley - actress, former model
• Pippa Bennett-Warner - actress
• Paulene Stone - Vogue cover girl
• Samantha Juste - Top of the Pops TV presenter
• Sandra Howard - novelist, wife of Michael Howard
• Maripaz Jaramillo - Colombian visual artist.JOURNAL, Maripaz Jaramillo: "La única relación que no me ha defraudado ha sido la que he construido con el arte", El Espectador, 8 July 2019,weblink
• Vicki Hodge - actress and model.
• Lorna McDonald - former model
• Jean Shrimpton - model, actress
• Carole White - model and founder of Premier Model Management
• Nuala Quinn-Barton - model, film producer and mother of actress Mischa Barton
• Tania Mallet - model, actress
• Gillian Tett - financial journalist

References

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