Mouse Couture Sketch by Bill Blass
View Similar Items
Mouse Couture Sketch by Bill Blass
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU12082734891D
Bill Blass
Venerated designer and philanthropist Bill Blass helped define style for women of means during the late 20th century and inspired generations of fashion industry professionals and enthusiasts all over the world.
Blass designed garments that saw a playful mingling of notes both subdued and bold, and his clothes were comfortable, easy to wear and sexy. The Indiana native was influenced by the likes of Coco Chanel and became famous for refined, simple looks that appealed to prominent women such as Brooke Astor and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Blass didn’t endeavor to produce showstoppers — he worked with quality materials, and his modern designs boasted meticulous tailoring. He glamourized sportswear with chic lines and dramatic colors, and by way of subtle, graceful ruffles or a tasteful application of sequins, he introduced modest flair to his day dresses and evening dresses. Vintage Bill Blass clothing is just as relevant today as it was during the height of his career.
Blass, who spent his spare time sketching red-carpet looks in his school notebooks as a kid, left home at 17 and moved to New York City, where he trained at the McDowell School of Fashion. After finishing design school, he joined the U.S. Army and fought in World War II. When the war was over, Blass returned to Manhattan. In 1946 he joined the fashion house Anna Miller and Co., where he worked as a design assistant for Anna Miller and her brother Maurice Rentner.
Anna Miller and Co. merged with Maurice Rentner, Ltd. in 1959, and Blass became the company's head designer. There he quickly built a name for himself and was soon a staple of the postwar fashion scene, impressing even the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar at the time, Diana Vreeland. Blass expanded into designing menswear and was the first couture designer in America to create a collection for men.
In 1970, Blass gained ownership of Rentner and renamed the company after himself. Blass employed a licensing-based business strategy, and soon his name marked a full array of accessories and apparel, including Bill Blass jeans, watches, home furnishings, eyewear and luggage. Blass's renown and success expanded considerably, as fashion bearing his name became more accessible than it had ever been.
Throughout his life, Blass made considerable contributions to the AIDS care center at Cornell Medical Center and to the New York Public Library. In 1962, he became a founding member of the Council of Fashion Designs of America (CFDA) trade association, which promotes American designers around the world. The CFDA presented Blass with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and he was the first recipient of their Humanitarian Leadership Award in 1996.
Find vintage Bill Blass fashion on 1stDibs.
- Couture The Great Designers Book by Caroline Rennolds Millbank c 1985Located in University City, MOCouture The great designers hardcover book by Caoline Rennolds Millbank c 1985 The 415 page hardcover begins in the 1840s with Charles Frederick Worth...Category
1980s American Couture
- David Webb The Quintessential American Jeweler Hardcover Book by Ruth PeltasonBy Assouline Publishing, David WebbLocated in North Hollywood, CADavid Webb The Quintessential American Jeweler hardcover book by Ruth Peltrason c 2013. This large heavy hardcover luxury book is an amazing archive of Webb's extraordinary 20th cent...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Couture
- The Beauty of Jewellery by Joan Frank Hardcover Book 1979Located in North Hollywood, CAThe Beauty of Jewellery by Joan Frank Crescent Books, 1979 - Jewelry - 93 pages. An appreciation of fine jewelry for the non-expert, with a chapter on the collection at the Victoria ...Category
20th Century Couture
$63 Sale Price20% Off - Maharaja's Jewels Table Book by Katherine Prior, AssoulineBy Assouline PublishingLocated in North Hollywood, CAMaharaja's Jewels Table Book by Katherine Prior, Assouline. The stories of Indian princes and their jewelry and precious stones are brought together in this illustrated narrative tracing the rise and fall of India's leading royal houses through the dramatic fortunes of their crown jewels. Traditionally, precious metals and jewels have been, for Indians rich and poor, a repository of wealth and a status symbol. For the reigning families, jewels also had symbolic and religious significance. Also here are the original drawings by great European jewelers of the pieces they designed for their exotic and demanding clients. The text is both lively and scholarly, drawing from descriptions of such travelers as Marco Polo and Tavernier as well as Sanskrit dramatists extolling the riches of India. The core of this lavishly photographed book is the encounter between Indian princely magnificence and the best of European Jewellery designers in the 20th century when many of the Maharaja's travelled to Europe with trunks filled with traditional Indian jewels and unset stones...Category
20th Century Couture
$520 Sale Price20% Off - Alexandre Reza Dreams of Yesterday Realities of To-Day Book by Arlette Seta 1985Located in North Hollywood, CAAlexandre Reza: Dreams of Yesterday Realities of To-day is a book about the life and work of Alexandre Reza, a Paris-based jeweler known for his diverse and rare collection of precio...Category
20th Century French Couture
$236 Sale Price20% Off - The Story of Jewelry 1st ED. 1973 by J. Anderson Hardcover BookLocated in North Hollywood, CAThe Story of Jewelry 1973 by J. Anderson. Introduction by Edward Lucie-Smith Black Hardcover Book. Translate from Italian. J. Anderson Black - Storia dei gioielli English text. Documents jewelry's history from the primitive ornaments of prehistoric times to the abstract simplicity of modern design. This book offers a unique way of exploring the world of vintage jewelry for experts, newcomers, and anyone with an interest in the topic. Every piece of jewelry tells a story. Each chapter is centered around a particular piece of jewelry and the way in which it is emblematic: a previous owner, an exemplary design or dominant material. From an array of historic pieces...Category
20th Century Italian Couture
$60 Sale Price20% Off