Helene Arpels

Hélène Arpels (née Ostrowska; 1907–2006) was a French model, the wife of jeweler Louis Arpels, and later a shoe designer and retailer in New York. She was known for her catch phrase "Diamonds go with everything" and was on the annual "10 Best Dressed List" for more than a decade. Shoes designed by Arpels are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

Early life Hélène Ostrowska was born in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in 1907, the daughter of Ukrainian-Polish parents, Michel Ostrowsky and Cécile Werblovska. Her older sister, Eugénie, was born in 1905.

In 1933, she was working as a fashion model for the House of Worth, when she married the jeweler Louis Arpels of Van Cleef & Arpels.

Career

Shortly after the Second World War, Arpels opened a small boutique in midtown Manhattan, selling contemporary versions of embroidered Arabian kaftans, intended to be worn as "bohemian eveningwear". However, it was her "exquisitely made shoes" that would grow to be the mainstay of the business, and Arpels designed all her own shoes. In 1933, she married the jeweler Louis Arpels. He would often seek her opinion on jewelry prototypes, and she was known for wearing jewelry in unusual ways, for example using diamond brooches on her shoes, and her catch phrase was "Diamonds go with everything". They would become estranged in later years, but continued to swap jewelry and style tips. After their divorce, Andre Azria became her life as well as business partner. Azria died in 2001.

She was a "Paris doyenne in her own right", and was on the annual "10 Best Dressed List" from 1949 to 1959.

Legacy Several pairs of Arpels' satin court pumps are in the permanent collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, together with a pair of zip-front brogues that belonged to Lily Auchincloss.