Elsie de Wolfe, also known as Lady Mendl, was an American actress, interior decorator, nominal author of the influential 1913 book The House in Good Taste, and a prominent figure in New York, Paris, and London society. According to The New Yorker, "Interior design as a profession was invented by Elsie de Wolfe," although the praise is not strictly true. She was certainly the most famous name in the field until the 1930s, but the profession of interior decorator/designer was recognized as a promising one as early as 1900, five years before she received her first official commission, the Colony Club in New York. During her married life , the press often referred to her as Lady Mendl. She was born in New York City and died in Versailles, France. Cremated, her ashes were placed in a common grave when the lease expired, at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
