SYDNEY — The Australian fashion industry is mourning the death of Georgina Weir, the owner of famed Melbourne fashion store Le Louvre.
Founded by Weir’s late mother Lillian Wightman in 1923 as a couture salon, originally in the Howie Place shopping arcade, before relocating in 1934 to a refurbished Victorian terrace house at 74 Collins Street — and then in 2010, to a three-story converted 1927 tramway substation in South Yarra — Le Louvre has dressed generations of Melbourne society and many visiting celebrities, in the early years including Nellie Melba, Anna Pavlova and Vivien Leigh.
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The appointment-only Collins Street boutique was noted for its polished copper facade and opulent interiors, which featured gilt mirrors, crystal chandeliers and furnishings in the house signature ocelot print, which was featured in a 2012 Hermès limited edition silk scarf, a collaboration with Le Louvre at the new South Yarra boutique, which boasts a modernized interpretation of the original interiors by Melbourne’s Ridolfi Architecture. Le Louvre’s curlicue logo was designed by Austrian-born Australian artist Louis Kahan.
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Wightman — who still worked in the boutique until shortly before her death in 1992, aged 89 — is credited as having played a key role in the coining of the term the “Paris End” of Collins Street, to denote the strip’s leafy eastern flank, which is today lined with luxury boutiques.
Weir was appointed a director of the company at 15, but formally joined the business in 1973. She was instrumental in converting it to a ready-to-wear business, but always with an emphasis on customer service and private appointments. This continues now, particularly with the boutique’s significant wedding business. Weir introduced brands including Chloé, Yves Saint Laurent, Kansai Yamamoto, Kenzo, Thierry Mugler and Emmanuelle Khanh and accessories by Maud Frizon and Stephen Jones. Chloe and Saint Laurent remain Le Louvre staples, with other brands including Khaite, Marchesa, The Row, Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood Bridal, which is exclusive to Le Louvre.
“Georgina was one of my first supporters not only in Australia but the world,” noted Jones in a tribute on Le Louvre’s Instagram feed. “Wonderful and hilarious and a fabulous hostess, too. Whenever I think of Australia, I’ll think of Georgina. The Paris end of Collins St. Always. R.I.P.”
“Georgina was a very supportive person to up and coming fashion designers,” said Denise Sprynskyj, cofounder of Melbourne label S!X, on the boutique’s Facebook page. “She encouraged Peter [Boyd] and I and we did many S!X Christmas windows at Collins Street. We will miss her.”
Weir had no children or siblings, but was on record that she would eventually pass the baton to her goddaughter Amelia Coote-Taylor, the daughter of former parliamentarian Andrea Coote. Coote-Taylor began working at Le Louvre at 13 and was eventually promoted to head buyer. Although not currently listed as a company officer on documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments commission — and unavailable for comment on Tuesday — a company representative confirmed Coote-Taylor had assumed the running of the business.
It was never a given that Weir would take over Le Louvre. After studying painting and sculpture at RMIT, she lived in Europe for five years, where she worked as an artist. Although a keen supporter of Australian Indigenous art in her later life, she never regretted her decision to abandon art for fashion, she told this journalist in an interview in 2011. She noted, “I’ve had a fantastic life because of this shop.”