The fashion house of Paul Caret operated from 1919 to 1929 with boutiques in London, Paris, Cannes, and Beaulieu. Lady Olga Nikolayevna EGERTON, born Princess LOBANOVA-ROSTOVSKAYA (1863 - 1947), founded it and created the designs. 8 years after marrying the nobleman Mikhail KATKOV, she becames a widow and marries again in 1895 Sir Harry Edwin EGERTON, an English aristocrat. He died in 1916 during World War I, and Olga became a widow for a second time. A lady of 53 at the time, with a large amount of inherited capital, she decided to become involved in fashion. Her motives were altruistic: aware of the difficult situation of Russian women émigrés in London, she decided to help them and founded the House of Caret, renamed Paul Caret a year later. The name was based on the Egerton family motto "fair and square", which, translated into French, reads "juste et carré". Lady EGERTON changed the spelling of the latter word to "Caret", and then, inspired by the great fashion designer Paul POIRET, added the word "Paul" as the first name. Paul Caret's style was unique and inimitable. Every client was given individual attention. Purity of line was maintained. Well-proportioned dresses with straight silhouettes, with an accented waistline on the hips, which was fashionable at the time, were often adorned with decorative embroidery or appliques. Lady EGERTON, who created the collection, used monochromatic silks, preferring black combined with gold trim or trim in a matching tone, such as embroidery in red beading on red muslin. Pearl or jade necklaces completed these smart and elegant dresses. Paul Caret's signature items were the so-called elegant evening "sortie-de-bal" wraps, which completed the low-cut decollete ball gowns. They were trimmed with high velvet collars in the manner of boyar "kozyri" and were sewn of fabrics that matched the evening attire. Many fur wraps and articles trimmed with fur were also made. During the season of 1928, Lady EGERTON's age—she had just turned sixty-five—began to take its toll. She grew fatigued and her son Nikolai Mikhailovich KATKOV (Nicolas KATKOV) took charge of the house's business. For a time, the famous model of the 1920s Gali BAJENOVA had modeled Paul Caret designs; she was a former saleswoman at Chanel and director of Paul POIRET's Rosine perfume shop in Deauville. Seeing the creative and administrative abilities of this beautiful woman, Lady EGERTON proposed that Gali BAJENOVA (also spelled BAZHENOVA) become the new mistress of the fashion house, and Gali agreed. In 1929 the house of Paul Caret nominally ceased its existence in name and was renamed Elmis (an abbreviation of BAJENOVA's Kabardinian name, Elmiskhan HAGONDOKOVA). The house of Elmis stayed at the same address as Paul Caret—222 rue de Rivoli. The entire staff—fifty seamstresses and three main cutters—worked for the new house. Unfortunately, the house of Elmis did not survive the economic depression and was sold in 1931 to George OCHMIANSKY, who ran the business until 1936. Lady EGERTON departed for England, then for America, where she died on January 3,1947.