Lucie Clayton College was founded by Sylvia Lucie Golledge in 1928 as a modelling agency and finishing school. It was bought by Leslie Kark who owned a successful model directory. It became Britain's top modelling agency during the 1950s and 1960s with Evelyn Gordine as the principal. Gordine (later Kark) was the business's public face using the name "Lucie Clayton".