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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

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

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

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,

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

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

W.F. / Fred (Wilhelm Alfred) Adlmüller (1909-1990) was born in Nuremberg, Bavaria, trained as a cook and worked a few years in one of his father’s restaurants. He went to Vienna in 1929 with the purpose to learn more about the restaurant business. Instead, he found a job with the fashion boutique “Ludwig Zwieback & Brüder”, thanks to the costume designer at Vienna’s State Opera, who had recognized his talent. In 1931 he went to

Adolfo (Sardina) (b. 1933) began his career as a milliner. After an apprenticeship with Balenciaga as a teenager, he moved to New York in 1948 and became an apprentice milliner at Bergdorf Goodman. He worked as a designer for milliner Erik Braagaard in the early 1950s and in 1953 was named head designer at Emme, where he received two awards for his millinery designs—a Coty “young designer” award in 1955, and a Neiman Marcus award,

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

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

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,

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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