Else Oppler-Legband
Else Oppler-Legband (21 February 1875 in Nuremberg – 7 December 1965 in Überlingen) was a German architect and interior designer, costume designer and stylist. She is one of the representatives of the Victorian dress reform which aimed to free women from sacramental constraints by reforming women's fashion in the 1910s and 1920s. She also worked for the cinema at the turn of the 1920s as costume designer and set designer.
Also recorded as Else Oppler
Else Oppler-Legband
Minya Diez-Dührkoop · Museum of Art and Crafts Hamburg · Public domain
- Name
- Else Oppler-Legband
- Birth Name
- Else Oppler
- Born
- 21 February 1875
- Birthplace
- Nuremberg
- Place of death
- Überlingen
- Occupation
- * Architect
- Education
- Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
- Spouse
- Paul Legband (1904–)
- Movement
- Reformkleidung
- Full name
- Else Oppler.
- Died
- 1965. · Überlingen.
- Nationality
- West Germany and Kingdom of Bavaria.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Else Oppler-Legband (21 February 1875 in Nuremberg – 7 December 1965 in Überlingen) was a German architect and interior designer, costume designer and stylist. She is one of the representatives of the Victorian dress reform which aimed to free women from sacramental constraints by reforming women's fashion in the 1910s and 1920s. She also worked for the cinema at the turn of the 1920s as costume designer and set designer.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Else Oppler-Legband (1875–1965) was an architect, designer and handicrafter and a national of the Kingdom of Bavaria and West Germany. Born Else Oppler in Nuremberg, the architect died in Überlingen.
Else Oppler-Legband studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich and Wiener Werkstätte. The architect was a member of Deutscher Werkbund and worked in Berlin. Languages used include German.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Else Oppler-Legband. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1333697 · wikipedia · Else Oppler-Legband
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Else Oppler-Legband • Citizenship — * Kingdom of Bavaria • West Germany • Birth Name — Else Oppler • Born — 21 February 1875 • Birthplace — Nuremberg • Place of death — Überlingen • Occupation — * Architect • Interior designer • Fashion designer • Education — Academy of Fine Arts, Munich • Spouse — Paul Legband (1904–) • Partner — Peter Behrens (1920–) • Movement — Reformkleidung
Early years
Early years
Else Oppler-Legband was one of the representatives of the so-called Lebensreform of Fashion in the 1910s and 1920s, centered in Berlin. In innovative circles of design and architecture, aesthetic interest in naked forms, devoid of ornamentation, spread from fashion to architectural theory.
Wedding
Wedding
In 1904, Oppler married the artistic director, director and stage designer Paul Legband (1876–1942). Around 1913, she and her husband worked in Freiburg im Breisgau. From 1913 at the latest, she is documented as a member of the Deutscher Werkbund (DWB).
Costume designer and set designer for the cinema
Costume designer and set designer for the cinema
• 1919: König Nicolo • 1920: Der Schwarm der höheren Töchter • 1920: Schwarzwaldmädel • 1920: Die Kronjuwelen des Herzogs von Rochester • 1922: Marie Antoinette, das Leben einer Königin
Last years
Last years
After the Nazi seizure of power in March 1933, the Jew Oppler-Legband was forced to flee. She first went to the Netherlands, then to South Tyrol in fascist Italy and finally to Sweden. After the end of World War II, she returned in 1952 to Germany and lived in Überlingen on Lake Constance until her death on 7 December 1965.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the heading Else Oppler. Her recorded language was German. She was the child of Theodor Oppler. She married Paul Legband. Other recorded relations include Edwin Oppler.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1875
Else Oppler-Legband born at Nuremberg.
1965
Else Oppler-Legband died at Überlingen.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Nuremberg.
Birth place
Überlingen.
Death place
Literature
Literature
• Else Oppler-Legband: Die Höhere Schule für Dekorationskunst. In: Durchgeistigung der deutschen Arbeit. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Werkbundes 1912, Jena 1912, S. 105–110. • Gaby Franger: Else Oppler – Eine außergewöhnliche Künstlerin, 1875–1965. Nürnberg 2023, ISBN 978-3-935225-16-8
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Schicksalsjahre. Else Oppler ein Vortrag von Claus Pese.
- 2.(en) Anna Brzyski, Partisan Canons, Duke University Press, 2007, 376 p. (ISBN 978-0-8223-9037-4, lire en ligne [archive]), " Masculine reason or feminine spirit ".
- 3.Claudia Frosch-Hoffmann: Chemie zwischen Nürnberg und Fürth Abhandlungen der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft zu Nürnberg, Abh. 48, (2017), S. 92–107.
- 4.Lorenz Josef Reitmeier: Dachau: der berühmte Malerort; Kunst und Zeugnis aus 1200 Jahren Geschichte; vorgestellt in zwölf Themen mit Nachträgen zur Trilogie "Dachau - Ansichten aus zwölf Jahrhunderten" und einer Dachauer Künstlerliste. Stadt Dachau, Dachau, 1989. ISBN 3-7991-6464-2.
- 5.Else Oppler-Legband: Die Höhere Schule für Dekorationskunst. In: Durchgeistigung der deutschen Arbeit. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Werkbundes 1912, Jena 1912, S. 105–110.
- 6.filmportal.de: Else Oppler-Legband, in German, retrieved: 22. September 2024
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Formation and teaching. Oppler-Legband studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich and Wiener Werkstätte. She trained under Henry van de Velde and Peter Behrens. Recorded at birth as Else Oppler. Recorded as having studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich and Wiener Werkstätte.
Activity and practice
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Fashion
2,260 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Ellen StewartDesigner
- Ellinor FlorDesigner
- Elsa SchiaparelliDesigner
- Elsa SerranoDesigner
- Else RaydtDesigner
- Elspeth ChampcommunalDesigner
- Elspeth GibsonDesigner
- Elvis PompilioDesigner
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Else Oppler-Legband?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.