The 1890s saw the opening of large couture houses in Paris, led by women such as Jeanne Paquin. During the same decade, Lucy Wallace (later, Lady Duff Gordon) opened her house in London. Known professionally as Lucile, she was a couturière and modern businesswoman who developed close working relationships with many of her clients, including the dancer Irene Castle. Denise Poiret was the wife and muse of the couturier Paul Poiret. Like Castle, she exemplified the youthful and modern woman of the early twentieth century. Castle would later graduate from muse to designer, and by the 1920s was promoting her own line of clothing.