{{Short description|English couturier and socialite (1911–1997)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox person |name = Bunny Roger |image = Bunny_Roger.jpg |image_size = |caption = Roger posing for Hardy Amies |birth_name = Neil Munro Roger |birth_date = 9 June 1911 |birth_place = London, England |death_date = {{death date and age|1997|4|27|1911|6|9|df=y}} |death_place = London, England |death_cause = |other_names = |known_for = Couturier<br>Socialite |education = |employer = |occupation = |title = }} '''Neil Munro "Bunny" Roger''' (9 June 1911 – 27 April 1997) was an English couturier and socialite. Roger's best-known contribution to fashion was his invention<ref name="obit" /> or popularization{{Citation needed|date=October 2023|reason=The Bunny Roger obit says 'He invented the tight-cut Capri trousers while on holiday on the island in 1949' and credits the invention only to Bunny Roger.}} of Capri pants.
==Early years== Neil Munro Roger was born 9 June 1911 in London to Sir Alexander Roger and Helen Stuart Clark, both from Scotland. He attended the Loretto School and read history at Balliol College, Oxford for a year; he then studied drawing at The Ruskin. He was expelled from Oxford for alleged homosexual activities.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |first=Clive |last=Fisher |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-bunny-roger-1270036.html |title=Obituary: Bunny Roger |newspaper=The Independent |date=29 April 1997 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110407211742/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-bunny-roger-1270036.html |archivedate=7 April 2011 |url-status=dead |accessdate=12 March 2016}}</ref>
==Career== In 1937, Roger established his dressmakers, Neil Roger, in Great Newport Street, London. One of his clients was Vivien Leigh.<ref name="bunnyfamily">{{citation | title=Family Values: At home with Bunny, Sandy and Alan | periodical=The Independent | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/family-values-at-home-with-bunny-sandy-and-alan-1140641.html | date=28 January 1998 | first=John | last=Windsor | accessdate=10 February 2010}}</ref>
In the Second World War, he was commissioned in the Rifle Brigade in 1941 and served in Italy and North Africa. Roger was known for his courage under fire. A story that may be apocryphal has him replying to a sergeant's question regarding approaching Germans, "When in doubt, powder heavily."<ref name="trevelyan">{{citation |title=Obituary: Bunny Roger |periodical=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-bunny-roger-1261417.html |date=14 May 1997 |first=Raleigh |last=Trevelyan |authorlink = Raleigh Trevelyan|accessdate=20 September 2014}}</ref>
Following the war, he was invited to run the couture department at Fortnum & Mason. He invested in the House of Amies, and his stake was later acquired by Debenhams in 1973.
Capri pants, introduced by fashion designer Sonja de Lennart in 1948,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Reitter-Welter |first=Barbara |date=28 June 2015 |title=Fur Klosterschulerinnen verboten |work=Welt am Sonntag; Berlin|id={{ProQuest| }}}}</ref> were popularized by her and Roger.<ref name="obit"/>
Roger was a clotheshorse who bought up to fifteen bespoke suits a year and four pairs of bespoke shoes or boots to go with each suit; each suit was said to have cost around £2,000. He favoured a neo-Edwardian look: four-buttoned jackets with broad shoulders, narrow waists, and long skirts. He favoured narrow trousers and a high-crowned bowler hat. He was particularly fond of spectator shoes and ruby cufflinks.<ref name="bunnyicon">{{citation | title=Bunny Roger: British Style Icon You've Probably Never Heard Of | url=http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/bunny-roger-english-style-icon-youve-probably-never-heard-of/ | date=28 January 2010 | accessdate=10 February 2010}}</ref>
Roger was known for the lavish and outrageous parties that he held throughout his life. These events were often themed, as in the Diamond, Amethyst, and Flame Balls held to celebrate his 60th, 70th, and 80th birthdays, respectively.<ref name="obit" /><ref name="walsh">{{citation |title=My dear, we always partied like it was 1999 |periodical=The Independent |date=16 December 1999 |first=John |last=Walsh |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/my-dear-we-always-partied-like-it-was-1999-1132629.html |accessdate=20 September 2014}}</ref>
==Death== Roger died in London on 27 April 1997. He was 85 years old.<ref name="obit" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Mann, Philip. ''The Dandy at Dusk: Taste and Melancholy in the Twentieth Century''. London: Head of Zeus, 2017. {{ISBN|978-1-78669-517-8}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger, Bunny}} Category:1911 births Category:1997 deaths Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:Rifle Brigade officers Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:English fashion designers Category:English socialites Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people Category:Businesspeople from London