Michael Sherard
British fashion designer, later fashion academic
Michael Sherard (17 July 1910 – 26 December 1998) was a British fashion designer and a member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, which represented the British couture industry in the wartime and post-war years. Operating his own label from the 1940s to 1960s, he is remembered primarily for his evening and occasion gowns. He also helped train future British designers, including Caroline Charles, and was later a design academic.
Early life and career
Michael Sherard was born Malcolm Henry Sherrard, recorded in portraits of his family now held by the National Portrait Gallery. Later he would change his professional name, but insist that he was not a couturier but a dressmaker. Eustace and Ida Sherrard had five other sons and lived in Kingston-upon-Thames, then part of the county of Surrey. Sherard's father was a City solicitor and his grandfather George C. Sherrard had been mayor of Kingston three times.
Sherard was educated at Berkhamsted School, where one of his teachers developed his love of the classics and encouraged his interest in drawing and theatre. He refused to follow his father and study law and was instead enrolled at Westminster School of Art, graduating in 1931.
He showed his work to Norman Hartnell – already a leading name in London couture – who turned him down as an assistant, recommending that he go to Paris.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17626863. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1998 and 1931.
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This entry incorporates text from “Michael Sherard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.