Alexis Dufresne Montjoie - The Bunny Roger of Avlis

[Pekarion]

I came about this short summary of Neil Munro "Bunny" Roger, and I couldn't help but think of our very own Alexis

"Now I've shot so many Nazis, Daddy will have to buy me a sable coat."
Neil Munro "Bunny" Roger


Bunny Roger was a war hero, yet his most notable contribution was his 1949 invention – Capri pants! He lived courageously and consistently as a gentleman who knew who, what, and why he was here.

Here's a fun anecdote: Roger got out of a taxi and powdered his nose, when his driver said: "You've dropped your diamond necklace!" Roger replied: "Diamonds? With tweed? Never!"

The son of a self-made millionaire, as a youth, he earned the ire of his conservative father by dying his hair and wearing rouge. His father had no sense of humor, yet when Roger was a teen, he had asked for a doll's house as a reward for being selected for a sports team, and his father gave it to him. When he was just a tyke, his mother gave him a fairy costume with wings.

He was expelled from Oxford for his indiscrete gayness. Then, audaciously, he started his own fashion business, and his first client was Vivien Leigh.

Then, a half-decade later, Roger found himself fighting Nazis in Italy and North Africa. He was noted for his bravery in battle while still wearing his long diaphanous scarves. He pulled a wounded fellow soldier from a building that had been bombed. Roger claimed that he had gone into a battle brandishing a rolled-up copy of VOGUE and commanding: "When in doubt, powder heavily!"

Roger hosted crazy themed soirées; Diamond, Amethyst, and Flame Balls were held to celebrate his 60th, 70th, and 80th birthdays. He wore a curious plum colored catsuit with a feathered headdress at his 70th birthday ball in 1981. At his 80th, he made his entrance in a catsuit of scarlet sequins with a cape of orange organza, greeting his guests from behind a wall of fire. His parties were covered by the newspapers, including a New Year's Eve Fetish Ball where the proper upper class mixed with young guests in rubber S/M gear.

From his obituary: "Beneath his mauve mannerisms, Bunny was stalwart, frank, dependable and undeceived; to onlookers a passing peacock, to intimates, a life enhancer and exemplary friend."

[Rudiki]

Wow! Somehow I'd not heard of him! The resemblance IS striking! Thank you!!