High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Elsie de Wolfe (also known as Lady Mendl) (December 20, 1865? – July 12, 1950) was an American actress, interior decorator, nominal author of the influential 1913 book The House in Good Taste, and a prominent figure in New York, Paris, and London society. According to The New Yorker, "Interior Design as a profession was invented by Elsie de Wolfe." During her married life, the press usually referred to her as Lady Mendl.