Luba Marks

Luba Marks (November 28, 1921 – July 5, 2020) was a Bulgarian-born French-American fashion designer of Russian descent specializing in sportswear from the 1950s to the 1980s. Prior to this, under the name Lubov Roudenko, she was a soloist for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the late 1930s and early 1940s, afterwards performing on Broadway throughout the 1940s.

Early life Lubou Rodenko was born on 28 November 1921 in Sofia, Bulgaria, to Russian parents. Her father, Nicholas, They moved to Paris, where Nicholas Rodenko ran a Russian restaurant until it was forced to close following the 1932 assassination of President Paul Doumer by a Russian émigré. She had a can-can sequence in the 1938 ballet Gaîté Parisienne choreographed specially for her by Léonide Massine. Matisse also made a drawing of Rodenko in the ballet Rouge et Noir. While on tour with the Ballet Russe, Rodenko performed the role of the Cowgirl in the 1942 ballet Rodeo until the tour reached New York and Agnes de Mille, the original choreographer, reclaimed the role for herself. After this, Rodenko played Grisette in Nellie Bly, a short-lived 1946 musical based on the life of Nellie Bly, and then became a lead dancer for the 1946–1949 Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun, but following a knee injury, decided to pursue a career in fashion design. launched their new clothing company Elite Juniors, in 1957. At the time it was reported that her clothes were worn by smart young women such as actress Jill St. John and singer Petula Clark, and younger women in politics such as Luci Nugent.

Personal life Luba married her first husband, Richard Marks in 1948. Although the marriage eventually broke down and ended in divorce, the Markses continued to work together well into the 1970s. In September 1972, Luba met her second husband, George Begazy, soon after the completion of her home in Southampton, New York, which she had designed herself.

Luba Begazy died at home on 5 July 2020, aged 98.