INNER THREADS OF A FAIRY TALE Fayetteville’s Elsie McNeill Lee becomes Venice’s Countess Gozzi and President of Fortuny By Allison Parker
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Driving through the Piedmont area in North
fabric and design and also the love of a Count.
Carolina, visions of cotton fields dance along
It all seems so simple-a young woman with
the roadside. In the heart of the Piedmont,
a dream moves from her small town to the big
Elsie McNeill Lee was born in Fayetteville,
city to start a career. However, in the 1920’s,
NC. Her hometown among the cotton fields
interior designers were not the norm. Elsie
did not keep her for long. Elsie would find her
was way ahead of her time. In a time when
life’s work as an interior designer leading her
women had just received the right to vote, this
to New York City. From New York City to Paris
courageous and talented young woman had
to Venice, Elsie’s life transformed as a weave
earned herself a spot as an interior designer in
of global threads entwined with her love of
the ‘Big Apple’, New York City.
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