Muriel Pemberton (1909-1993)

Muriel Pemberton, painter and teacher: born Tunstall, Stoke on Trent 8 September 1909; married 1941 John Hadley Rowe (died 1975); died Hastings, East Sussex 30 July 1993. MURIEL PEMBERTON invented art-school training in fashion in Britain and, in doing so, affected attitudes to fashion design throughout Europe. Before she became involved in the field, fashion training had existed almost exclusively within the strictures of the couturier system. She brought the freedom of a painter to the discipline of designing and making clothes, and throughout her career she pursued in tandem her two great talents for painting and design. In 1925, at the age of 15, Muriel entered the local school of art at Burslem, in the Potteries, as its youngest student. While many contemporaries, including two of her sisters, trained as designers and decorators of ceramics, she was determined to become a proper artist and, in 1928, succeeded in gaining a scholar