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Label Resource : a la Pensee, Henry
Monday, August 06, 2012
Henry a la Pensee was a French fashion house. The house operated several high end boutiques that were set up like department stores. The stores sold accessories, clothing (sportswear, elegant knitwear, silk blouses etc.), objects, and gifts from 1800 – 1960s. The house based in Paris, France opened many shops throughout France. In 1938 the house opened a shop in New York City and for that purpose Henry a la Pensee, Inc., a New York
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Label Resource : Abbott, Edward
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Edward Abbott was the clothing business for which Wilson Folmar was head designer, 1957 – 1984. See also: Wilson Folmar Written by Lizzie Bramlett, fuzzylizzie.com
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Label Resource : Abercrombie & Fitch
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Abercrombie & Fitch was started in 1892 in New York City by David Abercrombie as Abercrombie & Co. His products consisted of outdoor gear, such as camping and hunting equipment, which he sold to professional explorers and avid outdoorsmen. In 1900 he was joined in the business by Ezra Fitch, who had the money for expansion. In 1904 the store moved to Broadway, and the company incorporated as Abercrombie & Fitch Company. The partners disagreed
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Label Resource : Abraham & Straus
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Abraham & Straus was a department store, founded in 1865 by Joseph Wechsler and Abraham Abraham. The store was located in Brooklyn, New York, and was known as Wechsler & Abraham. In 1893, Wechler’s share of the company was bought by the Straus family, who also owned shares in Macy’s. The store then became known as Abraham & Straus, or simply, A&S. During the 1910s, the Straus family separated their interest in the two stores,
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Label Resource : Adair
Thursday, July 01, 2010
The House of Adair made beaded dresses in France for export to the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Their production peaked in 1924-25. Written by coutureallurevintage.com
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Label Resource : Adidas
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Adidas was founded by Adi Dassler, who had been making sports shoes in Germany since the 1920s. The company was started in 1947, and the name Adidas – a shortened form of Dessler’s name – was given to the company in 1948. The next year he registered the company’s trademark, the Three Stripes. Adidas started producing sports clothing in 1967. In 2005 Adidas aquired Reebok, making Adidas the second largest sportswear manufacturer worldwide. As of
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Label Resource : Adolfo
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Adolfo (Sardina) (b. 1933) began his career in millinery at Bergdorf Goodman in 1948. His first label was Adolfo of Emme, which was produced 1951-1958. In 1962 he started his own millinery house with money he borrowed from Bill Blass. Some of his hats during the early 1960s were designed to accompany the clothing of Norman Norell. He started making clothes in 1962 because he wanted the dresses his models wore to show his hats
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Label Resource : Adrian Jules LTD
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Adrian Jules, Ltd, was founded in 1964 by Adriano Roberti, a master tailor and designer from Italy. The company specializes in high quality, custom tailored men’s suits, tuxedos, top coats and dress shirts. In 2006, the Robb Report featured Adrian Jules as the only American suit maker that still does most of the tailoring by hand. Written by pinky-a-gogo
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Label Resource : Adrian, Gilbert
Friday, July 02, 2010
Gilbert Adrian (1903-1959) born Adrian Adolph Greenberg, first designed movie costumes for Rudolph Valentino in the mid 1920. He worked for Cecil B. DeMille in 1926, and in 1928 he went to M-G-M. It was here that Adrian made his name as one of the great Hollywood designers, designing the costumes for over 230 movies. He dressed some of Hollywood’s greatest stars, and was responsible for Joan Crawford’s big-shouldered look that influenced the way American
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Label Resource : Agnes
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Agnes was a Parisian milliner. She trained at Talbot and Reboux before opening her salon in 1917. She was located at 6 rue St. Florentin until 1935. In 1936 she moved to 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. Agnes was open into the 1940s, closing around 1947. Label note: Adaptation labels were used not by the designer, but by US firms that were making fashions that were adapted from the designer’s work. Many firms did adaptations,
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Label Resource : Agnes B.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Agnes B. (b.1941) is a French sportswear designer who began her career in the early 1970s as junior editor of Elle magazine and later as assistant to Dorothy Bis. In the mid 1970s she opened her own boutique in Paris where she remade French worker’s uniforms, black leather blazers and rugby fabric T-shirts. Her goal was to sell to those who did not want to look too “fashionable.” Her clothing, encompassing those for men, women
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Label Resource : Agnes, Mme
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
A haute couture house founded by Mme. Agnés ca. 1898. From the October 3, 1898 New York Sun: “MME. AGNES Formerly a designer of the house of Doucet, she recently founded a business of her own, which her superb abilities and her charming personality rendered instantly successful.” Her publicized clients included the Queen of Holland. Agnés’ models were sold in the US by John Wanamaker as early as 1898 – 1899. The earliest label found
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Label Resource : Aigner, Etienne
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Etienne Aigner (1904-2000) was an Hungarian maker of handbags and other leather goods He worked in France, producing leather goods for companies such as Dior, but came to the United States in 1949. He worked out of his apartment, producing belts in what became his trademark dark red color. He opened a showroom in 1959. Today there are two separate Etienne Aigner companies – one in the US and the other based in Munich, Germany.
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Label Resource : Aimbez, Gil
Friday, July 02, 2010
Gil Aimbez (b. 1940) studied art and fashion in Los Angeles before heading to New York. There he worked for Anne Klein and other firms as a pattern maker and design assistant. In 1973 Aimbez became the sportswear designer at Genre, a company owned by Peter Clements. Other labels were added; Bon Menage in 1977 and Snafu in 1978. In recent years Aimbez has run his own fashion consultancy firm, and has worked with the
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Label Resource : Akris
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Akris was founded in Switzerland in 1922 by Alice Kriemler-Schoch. The company initially made simple, dotted aprons that were crafted by Kriemler-Schoch on a single sewing machine. In 1944, her son, Max Kriemler, took over the business. The company grew significantly and under Max Kriemler, Akris produced clothing lines for French designers Givenchy and Ted Lapidus. In 1980, Max Kriemler’s right-hand man died so his son, Albert, was asked to postpone his fashion studies in
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Label Resource : Alaïa, Azzedine
Friday, July 02, 2010
Azzedine Alaïa (b.1940) opened his ready-to-wear business in Paris in 1980, after having worked at Mugler, Guy Laroche, and Dior. He is known for his work in knits and Lycra, especially that done in the mid 1980s. His designs were generally made from black or dark solid colors, and his dresses were tight, showing off every curve. Many feature a deeply scooped back. Alaïa still designs, and is based in Paris. There is nothing more
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Label Resource : Albertina
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Albertina Giubbolini (1921-2009) founded her atelier in Rome in 1952 and began showing her work in 1957 at showcases in the Pitti Palace. By the 1960s her reputation was firmly established, selling to high end boutiques in Paris and London as well as Saks, Lord and Taylor and Bloomingdales in the US. She was referred to by the fashion press as the “Magician of Knitwear” and the “Italian Chanel”. Her clients included Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth
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Label Resource : Aldrich, Larry
Friday, July 02, 2010
Larry Aldrich (1906-2001) was an American manufacturer of women’s clothing. Aldrich began making clothing in 1927 but his own name didn’t appear on labels until the 1940s. Larry Aldrich clothing was stylish, but not fashion-forward. Styles from Paris were adapted to have a more conservative sensibility. He was a collector of modern art, and in the late 1960s was known for using Op Art fabrics that he had designed for him. In 1957 Aldrich became
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Label Resource : Alexander, Jeannette
Friday, July 02, 2010
Jeannette Hunt Alexander Hyland was the daughter of designer Peggy Hunt. Alexander got her start in the clothing business during WWII when she thought she might be able to make money mass manufacturing shoulder pads. Based in Los Angeles, she was able to acquire hard to find fabric in New York and used it to make her shoulder pads. She sold them to department stores and manufacturers across the United States. Just after the war
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Label Resource : Alice of California
Friday, July 02, 2010
Alice of California was founded in 1925 by Krist Gunderson, an orphan from Iceland who worked on a fishing boat for three years before “jumping ship” and escaping to Norway, where he did well as a door-to-door salesman. He immigrated to the US and arrived in New York without a dime to his name. He then made his way to the West Coast, sold dead stock from a dry goods house in Portland, Oregon, and
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Label Resource : Alix of Miami
Friday, July 02, 2010
Alix of Miami was one of the many manufacturing businesses that sprang up in Miami, Florida in the mid 29th century. In the post-World War II period, the city of Miami, Florida became a leader in the development of “modern” mid 20th Century design. The city’s location lent itself to modernism with a twist of tropical. Alix of Miami made beautiful cocktail and dinner dresses with a tropical edge. They also made glamorous swimsuits, with
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Label Resource : Allen, Jean
Friday, July 02, 2010
Jean Allen was a London model house, much like Frank Usher, Susan Small etc. There probably there was not actually a Ms. Jean Allen (like there was never a ‘Jean Varon’). They just did nice frocks for reasonable prices, a popular type of company which emerged in the 1950s and who were fairly successful until the high street boom of the late 1970s. Written by emmapeelpants
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Label Resource : Altmann, Bernhard
Monday, July 05, 2010
Bernhard Altmann first entered the textile trade in Vienna in 1915; in 1919 he founded his knitwear manufacturing business there. His company was very successful and it grew to employ 1000 people by 1938. But in that year the German Anschluss put his business under pressure, and he fled to London. His brother was taken prisoner by the Nazis and Altmann was forced to sign over the business in return for his release. Altmann started
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Label Resource : Alyce Designs
Monday, July 05, 2010
Alyce Designs was established in 1967 by Alyce Hamm, who trained as a costume designer at the prestigious Paris Ecole de Couture along with her brother Jean-Paul Hamm. Alyce Designs is still family owned and run. The company specializes in evening, pageant, prom, and bridal wear. Alyce Designs dresses have been worn in several movies and television shows. Various representatives of the titles of Miss USA, Miss France, Miss Universe, and Miss World have worn
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Label Resource : Amey, Ronald
Monday, July 05, 2010
Ronald Amey (1932-1986) was the head designer for Burke-Amey. Written by The Vintage Fashion Guild See Also: Burke-Amey
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Label Resource : Amies, Hardy
Monday, July 12, 2010
Hardy Amies (1909-2003) began his career in fashion at Lachasse in 1934, where he was designer, and after 1935, managing director. During the war he designed British Utility clothing which conformed to the strict fabric saving rules of wartime. He started his own couture house, Hardy Amies Ltd. in 1946, and added ready-to-wear in 1950. In 1951, Amies designed dresses for Princess Elizabeth’s tour of Canada. After she became Queen, she appointed Amies as the
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Label Resource : Andrade
Monday, July 05, 2010
Andrade Resort Shops were owned by husband and wife team Richard and Selma Wheeler. Established in the 1950s. By 1970 there were eleven stores throughout the Islands of Hawaii. Much of the stores’ merchandise was made in Hawaii by other well-known Hawaiian firms such as Alfred Shaheen and Kahala. The Andrade Resort Shops were known for their colorful clothes – colors that reflected those of the Islands. Written by Lizzie Bramlett, fuzzylizzie.com
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Label Resource : Angelo, Alfred
Monday, July 05, 2010
Alfred Angelo was established in the early 1930s by founders Alfred Angelo Piccione and his wife Edythe Vincent Piccione. They are a maker of mainly bridal dresses, but they also produce other evening wear and prom dresses. Today they are one of the largest producers of bride’s dresses in the world, and the company is still owned by the Piccione Family. The designer at Alfred Angelo is Michael Shettel. Written by Lizzie Bramlett, fuzzylizzie.com
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Label Resource : Annacat
Monday, July 05, 2010
Annacat was the Biba of The Brompton Road, being formed in 1965 by friends Jane Lyle and Maggie Keswick. Although little is known about the origins of the boutique, it is easy to show the sense of fun and youthful enthusiasm which encapsulates the Boutique Movement through the designs of Annacat. They were highly favoured by British Vogue (something which Biba and Mary Quant struggled with throughout the 1960s, despite their fame and obvious charms),
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Label Resource : Anthony, John
Monday, July 05, 2010
John Anthony (b.1942) founded John Anthony, Inc. in 1971, after he had spent nine years designing at Devonbrook (1959-68), and three years working for Adolphe Zelinka (1968-70). Anthony was known for his tailored and refined wrap coats and suits with flared skirts and wide-legged pants. In 1984, he took off two years from designing, but reopened in 1986. His new business concentrated on producing a small collection each season, and each garment was ordered and
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Label Resource : Apple
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Apple was a short-lived clothing boutique owned by the Beatles’ Apple Corporation. In September 1967 while filming Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles decided to open a fashion boutique as the first venture in their newly founded Apple Corps empire. Their accountants had already acquired 94 Baker Street in London as a long-term investment and so they decided to give the “Fool” £100,000 to design and stock the new Apple Boutique in the premises. The Fool
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Label Resource : Aquascutum
Monday, July 05, 2010
Aquascutum is one of the classic British ready-to-wear houses. Aquascutum opened in the UK in 1851 as a tailor’s making men’s clothing from a special waterproof woolen fabric. They received a royal warrant from the future King Edward VII in 1897. The Aquascutum coats were put to the test in the Crimean War. A General Goodlake was actually saved from capture when his Aquascutum cloak disguised him against the ground – one can view this
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Label Resource : Arbeid, Murray
Monday, July 05, 2010
Murray Arbeid (b. 1935) started out as a pattern cutter. In 1952 he began working for Michael Sherard. Two years later, he opened his own business. Arbeid was known for his evening dresses, and in the 1980s, he designed for Princess Diana and other high-profile women. He closed his business in 1992. Written by Lizzie Bramlett, fuzzylizzie.com
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Label Resource : Arden, Elizabeth
Monday, July 05, 2010
Elizabeth Arden (1884-1966) was born Florence Nightingale Graham in Canada, but moved to the USA at age thirty to work in the beauty industry. She used her nursing training to create skin creams. Although primarily famous for her cosmetic and fragrance lines, she also created a clothing line comprising both couture and exclusive ready-to-wear. Her Fifth Avenue New York salon, famous for its lipstick red front door, opened in 1910. In the 1940s she employed
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Label Resource : Arena Mark Spitz
Monday, July 05, 2010
Mark Spitz won seven gold medals for swimming in the 1972 Olympic games at Munich. He retired after the victory, and became the first swimmer to have a licensing contract with a sporting goods company. The match was the brainchild of Horst Dassler, head of Adidas France and son of Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas. He had been dreaming of a competitive swimwear line and Spitz was the ingredient he needed to make it a
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Label Resource : Aristocraft
Monday, July 05, 2010
Aristocraft was a lingerie label established in 1936 by the Superior Petticoat Company of New York City. In addition to petticoats and slips, they also made women’s sleepwear. The company is no longer in operation. Written by Lizzie Bramlett, fuzzylizzie.com
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Label Resource : Aristos
Monday, July 05, 2010
Aristos Constantinou opened his Aristos boutique on Carnaby Street in 1966. In 1971, he was joined by his brother Achilleas and together they formed Ariella Fashions Limited. Hence the label being ‘designed by Aristos’. They expanded from these premises into Duke Street, Oxford Street, Newburgh Street and more on Carnaby Street. In the 1970s, Punch Magazine described them as ‘the power of Carnaby Street’. They were so successful that they began to supply their clothes,
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Label Resource : Arkin, Leonard
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Leonard Arkin founded his company in 1927. He manufactured suits, coats, and dresses for daytime and cocktail hour. Mr. Arkin was a director of the Fashion Originator’s Guild. The company specialized in interpretations of Paris originals for the moderate to bridge market. Chester Weinberg designed for the company in the early 1950s. By 1960, Leonard’s son Andrew had joined the business and the company produced four labels: Leonard Arkin, Andrew Arkin, Special Editions by Anne
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Label Resource : Armand, Jean-Marie
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Jean-Marie Armand was born about 1930. He worked as an assistant designer for Nina Ricci in the 1950s. In 1960, he was hired as the designer for Madelaine de Rauch. His first solo collection for de Rauch was in January 1961, but it was a huge flop. In July 1965, Armand opened his own small couture house in Paris. His designs were very architectural and modern, similar to those of Cardin and Courreges. He was
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Label Resource : Armani, Giorgio
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Giorgio Armani (b.1934 ) got his first job in fashion doing display windows at La Rinascente in Milan. This was in 1954. He moved up through the ranks and eventually became a buyer for the company. He got his start designing at Nino Cerruti in the 1964. In 1970 Armani began a freelance design business, where he designed various lines, including two menswear collections for Ungaro. Armani started his own label for men in 1974,
