Betty Clemo Fashion designer and costume designer Country: Great Britain

Biography of Betty Clemo

Betty Clemo, a fashion designer and costume artist from Hong Kong, worked from the 1950s to the 1990s. Elizabeth Borjin Charnuis Clemo Yen, also known as Betty, was born in 1920 in Beijing, China. Her mother was a Russian immigrant and her father was a Chinese subject belonging to the ancient Mongolian Borjigit dynasty, known as the "Blue-eyed" who gave the world Genghis Khan.

After her father's death, Betty moved to Shanghai, where her mother, Yekaterina Charnuis, managed a fashion house. In Paris, Yekaterina Carnuis was a student of couturier Jeanne-Marie Lanvin, the founder of the famous fashion house "Lanvin". She later joined her family in Shanghai to start her own business, naming her fashion house "Atelier Charnuis". Yekaterina mainly worked with Russian immigrants, including many high society ladies who were accustomed to dressing elegantly. She also served the high society of Shanghai, including sewing for the famous Soong sisters. Each of the Soong sisters married influential political figures and held immense power in the country.

In the late 1930s, Betty married British diplomat William Clemo and moved to London after the outbreak of World War II. Unfortunately, William passed away during the war, and Betty relocated to Los Angeles on the advice of Elinor Glyn, an English writer and screenwriter who pioneered erotic literature for women. With the help of Elsie de Wolfe, an American actress and interior designer, whose husband Sir Charles Mendl was a colleague of William Clemo, Betty landed a job as a costume consultant at 20th Century Fox studio. She worked closely with Edith Head, Irene Sharaff, and Charles LeMaire.

Later, Betty moved to New York and became the chief designer at Hattie Carnegie's fashion house. In the late 1950s, she returned to Asia, where she was offered the position of art director and costume artist at Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. Clemo worked on numerous projects, but she is best remembered for her collaboration with Chinese actress Lin Dai, for whom she created most of her costumes on and off the stage.

In 1961, Betty was awarded the "Best Art Director" at the Asia Pacific Film Festival for her work on the film "Les Belles". In 1962, at the height of her fame, she founded her own fashion brand, "Betty Clemo", and opened the first boutique, "Betty Clemo's Couture", in the world-famous Peninsula Hotel. Betty, considered one of the first fashion designers in Hong Kong, introduced high fashion from Paris to Asia by importing licensed Parisian clothing lines. She was the first to sell Christian Dior, Nina Ricci, and other couturiers' clothing in Hong Kong.

Among her clients were local movie stars, society lionesses, and Hollywood celebrities, including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Anna May Wong, Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward, and Merle Oberon. Betty's dresses were also appreciated by members of the British royal family, such as Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, and Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.

In the mid-1990s, Betty retired and moved to London with her grandchildren. She passed away peacefully in her sleep in 2005 at the age of 85. Today, the Betty Clemo fashion company, with boutiques in London, New York, Hong Kong, Macau, and throughout China, is managed by her family members from London.