House of Elspeth Champcommunal was founded in 1925 in Paris by British designer and socialite Elspeth CHAMPCOMMUNAL (born Elspeth Mary HODGSON). Her fashion salon was located at the Rue de Penthièvre, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The label was famous for the simple designs of striking fabrics and innovative trimmings were revered as much as those of Chanel or Molyneux. Elspeth Mary HODGSON married the French artist Joseph CHAMPCOMMUNAL before WWI and after his death in 1914 she remained in France, where she became a part of literary and artistic circles – was friends with Virginia Woolf (who called her 'Champco') and the Bloomsbury Set artist Roger Fry, posed for Man Ray. In September 1916 CHAMPCOMMUNAL became the first editor of the Vogue London edition. She moved away from directly copying American Vogue and added lifestyle elements to the British edition: health, beauty, society and sport themes, as well as travel and opinion pieces. CHAMPCOMMUNAL remained at this position until the end of 1922. From the mid 1920s, CHAMPCOMMUNAL had an eponymous couture label and fashion salon. During the interwar period (1929–39) she travelled between London and Europe with the American literary publisher and modernist Jane HEAP, who later became her partner in London until Elspeth’s death. In 1933 Elspeth CHAMPCOMMUNAL became head designer at W. W. Reville-Terry. When Reville-Terry and the London branch of Worth merged in 1936, CHAMPCOMMUNAL became the head designer at Worth London, a position she retained until the late 1950s. In 1942, when the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc) was founded, she represented Worth's interests among the so-called "big ten" of couture houses in London. The most famous Worth London outfit by CHAMPCOMMUNAL was comprising pussycat-bow blouse and slim tailored suit, which was photographed by the Ministry of Information in 1945. This outfit remains part of the Imperial War Museum archive. In March 1953, shortly before her retirement, CHAMPCOMMUNAL was photographed by Life magazine with other IncSoc members, who took part in the preparations for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.