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Tony Duquette

American, 1914-1999

One of the great style icons of the 20th century, Tony Duquette (1914–99) created pieces with a singularly ebullient elegance. Through his private interior-decorating commissions and his work as a stage and movie-set designer, Duquette made his name synonymous with flamboyance, fantasy and glamorous originality. 

Duquette was born in Los Angeles and studied at the Chouinard Art Institute. But his true education began in the mid-1930s, first as an assistant to an aging Elsie de Wolfe — the eminent interior designer who many say created the profession — and later as a colleague of William Haines, the famed movie-star-turned-decorator. Duquette’s clients would come to include many Hollywood luminaries — he decorated “Pickfair,” the fabled home of actress Mary Pickford, and homes for producer David O. Selznick and director Vincent Minnelli — and a robust roster of the rich and powerful, among them Doris Duke, J. Paul Getty, Norton Simon and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. All the while, Duquette was designing film and theater sets and costumes. He worked on such films as Kismet, Ziegfeld Follies and Can-Can; he won a Tony award in 1961 for costume design for the original Broadway production of Camelot.

Theatricality is the keynote of the best of Duquette’s designs. He made things that would get attention. Duquette was no purist — he appreciated the spare and sleek as much as the baroque and elaborate — but everything had to provide a visual effect, if not necessarily perform a function. Apart from the furnishings and objects he designed for his grandest decorating commissions, Duquette rarely used precious materials. “Beauty, not luxury, is what I value” was his often-repeated motto. Duquette pieces priced at $10,000 and above tend to be either intricately made or super-scaled or have an interesting ownership provenance. Most of his works are marked at about $5,000.

As you will see on 1stDibs, Tony Duquette created something for anyone who likes big-statement design — providing a showstopper for a lean, modernist decor or an alluring element in a lush, more-is-more interior. A Duquette design says: On with the show!

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Designer: Tony Duquette
Moorish Mughal style Curled Toe Black Leather Shoes from Tony Duquette Estate
By Tony Duquette
Located in North Hollywood, CA
Vintage Collectible Moorish Mughal style Curled Toe Black Leather Shoes from Tony Duquette Estate. Hand made with leather body, the fronts elaborately decorated in hand-stitched metal bullion. Tapered returned leather front projection in “genie” fashion. The decoration with very minor losses and oxidation of the metallic components. Hand-made to measure for Tony Duquette in India. Tony Duquette (1914-1999) From the Estate of Tony Duquette Los Angeles California. Dimensions: 11 length x 3.5 Hand stitched and hand tooled leather shoes...
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Mid-20th Century Indian Tony Duquette

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Tony Duquette fashion for sale on 1stDibs.

Find an extraordinary range of authentic Tony Duquette fashion available on 1stDibs. Customers who are interested in this designer might also find the work of Neil Bieff, Boss By Hugo Boss, and Y-3 YOHJI YAMAMOTO appealing. On 1stDibs, find haute couture, vintage and designer Tony Duquette fashion from top boutiques around the world. Tony Duquette fashion prices can differ depending upon time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $250 and tops out at $250, while the average work can sell for $250.

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