Elzbieta Rosenwerth, who has died in Cape Town at the age of 91, was the doyenne of the South African fashion industry. When she arrived in Cape Town from war-torn Europe in 1952 with a sewing machine and a suitcase, there was little fashion and barely a fashion industry in the country.There was certainly no such thing as high fashion. Haute couture started when she answered an advertisement for a small fashion business in Rondebosch in 1961. There was no style before she established the Rosenwerth collection a year later.Her label dominated the 1960s and early '70s and was one of the top labels for 40 years. Her clients included the crème de la crème of society. For many years she dressed the wives of most ambassadors to South Africa; other clients included Bridget Oppenheimer and Lady Ena Graaff, wife of Sir De Villiers Graaff, leader of the United Party.Rosenwerth was born in Poland on July 7 1923, the youngest of four children. Her father was one of the top eye surgeons in the country and she enjoyed a privileged upbringing, living in the family apartment in Warsaw and on their farm 200km from the city.In 1939, when she was 16, the Germans invaded. The family left the farm and headed for Warsaw on back roads and through forests while being attacked by Stuka dive-bombers. It took 17 days to get there.story_article_left1Her father joined a medical regiment and was sent east to the Russian border where he and thousands of other Polish officers were captured and massacred by the Russians in the Katyn forest.She married, joined the underground Polish army and trained as a field nurse. In 1995 her contribution was recognised with an award by the Polish government.After the Warsaw uprising in 1944 Rosenwerth, who was pregnant, and her mother left the city for her uncle's farm in Cracow where her daughter Dorota was born. They returned to what was left of Warsaw after the war and lived there under communist rule until 1946. With no passports or identity papers they could not leave without risking arrest and imprisonment.Her two brothers, who had a thriving blackmarket import-export business in London, came up with money and a plan and they escaped hidden in a convoy of lorries delivering medical supplies to Germany. After near arrests and the payment of many bribes they arrived in Paris, where they stayed for nine months as political refugees.Rosenwerth was blown away by the chicness, quality and style with which Parisian society dressed, and knew then that she wanted to do fashion. She snuck in through the back door to view the collections, learnt about sewing and haute couture and began designing dresses. She was heavily influenced by the elegant classical simplicity of European couture.Meanwhile, her husband organised an apartment in London with the help of her brothers and she joined him there. Life in post-war England was grim and when, after five years, they saw a newspaper advert to run a vodka distillery in Ladybrand in the Free State, they emigrated.Ladybrand was a disaster and they moved to Cape Town. She worked for a commercial clothing company for eight years and opened a fashion design school before buying a small fashion business with the help of her millionaire property developer friend Ronald Cohen - who nine years later bludgeoned his wife to death.Rosenwerth had an extraordinary eye for fabric, colour and cuttings. She was very knowledgeable. She would touch a piece of fabric and tell you its exact composition. She knew precisely what she wanted and she insisted on getting it. "God is in the detail," she would say.She would walk into the workroom and make it clear that she was unhappy with what she saw. "No, darling, no, that's not right," she would say in the pronounced Polish accent which she never lost. "Take it apart."Her designs made even the unlikeliest women look stylish. And hers was a label one hung on to. Her jackets or dresses, if you could afford them, lasted. This was a mark of the workmanship that went into them - as well as the design.She was a tough businesswoman who ran a very tight ship and allowed no wastage.She handed the business to her daughter Gabi 15 years ago but came to all the meetings and contributed ideas right to the end.Rosenwerth herself always dressed beautifully. In spite of her wealth she was never flashy. She was down to earth and direct.Her presence in a room was invariably announced by the start of a raging debate about some topic or other. She was well read in most subjects, especially European history, and had strong opinions about everything."Wait a minute all of you," she would say. "You are all talking absolute rubbish."In addition to Polish, she spoke English and French fluently. She learnt French as a second language at school in Poland and all her nannies were French.She was extraordinarily charming and men fell desperately in love with her.Her husband Henio died 24 years ago. She is survived by three daughters, Dorota, Gabi and Magda. 1923-2015..