Thea Porter

Dorothea Noelle Naomi "Thea" Porter (24 December 1927 – 24 July 2000) was a British artist, fashion designer and retailer who in the 1960s brought opulent Middle East fashions to London.

Early life She was born Dorothea Noelle Naomi Seale, on 24 December 1927, in Jerusalem, and raised in Damascus.

Following her studies in England, she worked in the library of the British embassy in Beirut, where she met her future husband, Robert Porter. Together they travelled to Jordan and Iran, and had holidays in France and Italy. She studied painting during the day, and "went to nightclubs every night and had millions of clothes." On 1 April 1977 she opened a store in Paris, on the Rue de Tournon; this closed in 1979. Thea Porter Decorations Ltd went into receivership in February 1981; she subsequently worked from ateliers on Avery Row and Beauchamp Place. In 1986 Porter had a short business partnership with Princess Dina of Jordan in a smaller shop, Arabesque, on Motcomb Street. Zandra Rhodes has stated, "Sadly, one didn't hear of her after that". In her obituary, The Guardian noted that Porter had little interest in marketing and was generally poor at business.

Personal life In 1952, she married Robert "Bob" Porter, an economist with the British Embassy in Beirut. They divorced in 1964 or 1967. They had one daughter, Venetia.

In 1994 she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and died in London on 24 July 2000.