The VFG believes that informed selling and buying communities are good for the vintage-fashion industry as a whole, and all visitors to the website have access to the VFG resources. These are continually updated and constantly evolving, thanks to a dedicated volunteer staff.
Our blog features our picks of the freshest vintage items, member news and articles. We have also created a growing series of articles on some classic designers.
The Vintage Fashion Guild™ (VFG) is an international organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of vintage fashion.
The Vintage Fashion Guild™ (VFG) is an international community of people with expertise in vintage fashion. VFG members enjoy a wealth of resources, avenues for promoting their shops and specialties, and camaraderie with others who share a common interest and passion.
Anne (Pantano) Verdi (1912 – 2007) was born in Italy in 1912 and came with her family to the United States that same year.
In 1930, the US census recorded the occupation of the young, 18 years old Bronx resident as “dressmaker.” Just four years later, Anne was head designer for New York’s Furst-Greenman Co., Inc., “manufacturers of dance frocks”.
Anne Pantano married Frank Verdi sometime around 1935. She submitted patent applications for her “new, original, and ornamental” dress designs in 1941. A month later Verdi charged Prom Dance Frocks, Inc., with infringement of patent rights for one of her designs.
A 1947 newspaper advertisement heralded Anne Verdi, Inc.’s “initial fall collection” of cocktail, dinner, and evening dresses, which designs were the keynotes of Verdi’s dressy fashion collection – such as her “cocktail dress(es)…meant for the sophisticated mature woman who likes her clothes liberally dashed with glamour.”
The 1949 Industrial Directory of New York State noted Anne Verdi Inc. was at 144 W. 37th St, NYC, manufactured misses’ dresses, and had five employees, having recently moved from 202 W. 40th Street. As the business swept into the 1950s, Anne Verdi Inc. was found at 491 7th Avenue in NY. A fashion article in the mid-1950s touted Anne Verdi’s “soft, young, and completely feminine…collection of dressy fashions…in elegant fabrics.” Those fabrics included imported organdies, embroidered and luxuriously printed silk crepe and peau de soies, with lavish use of laces. In late 1961 Elizabeth Goodwin, formerly with Nat Kaplan, Inc., joined the design staff of Anne Verdi, Inc.
A succinct November 26, 2007 obituary for Anne Pantano Verdi, age 95, failed to mention her long, illustrious fashion career.
Written by LKRanieri
Courtesy of pinkyagogo
from a late 1940s cocktail gown