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The Aris Glove Company, a European maker of fine leather gloves and knit accessories, was founded in 1910. The company moved to the United States and in the early 1970s, created a unique glove made from a nylon/spandex fabric with leather trim. Recognizing the glove’s unique 4-way stretch and massaging properties, Aris named the glove isotoner by combining the words “isometric” and “toning.” The isotoner glove was a major success with a name so recognizable that Aris adopted it and became ARIS Isotoner, Inc.

In 1997 the Totes Corporation merged with Aris Isotoner forming the Totes Isotoner Corporation.

Italian fashion designer. Armani was dubbed the ‘Sexy Tailor’ by the American fashion press for sartorial innovations he introduced in menswear. He brought sensual drape to traditional suit coats by eliminating rigid interlinings that had shaped and restricted men’s clothing in the 1970s. To complement his new softly-tailored coats, he created short, supple, collared shirts and textural, patterned ties. Armani’s impact on menswear went beyond unstructured sewing techniques to include a serene color palette inspired by the Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. The neutral earth tones included an inventive grey–beige (‘greige’), moss, mushroom and smoky grey–blue, tones not seen before in menswear. Armani claimed to be ‘the stylist without color’. Armani also brought a feminine touch to menswear and eventually expanded his design aesthetic to women’s clothing, bringing a powerful look to women’s fashion. His minimal modernism in cut and fit, while retaining maximum impact in silhouette and color, stimulated the fashion imagination of Hollywood, retailers, journalists and customers of both sexes.

Love of stage and cinema inspired Armani throughout his career, proving to be the catalyst to his future international recognition. After studying medicine, he completed his military service in the Army infirmary but sought civilian work more compatible with his temperament. In 1957 Armani went to work at La Rinascente, Milan, Italy’s most important fashion store, where his innovative visual merchandising skills earned him a promotion to their style office. Armani travelled extensively to select unique products for the store. He attracted the attention of Nino Cerutti (b 1930), an Italian textile and clothing manufacturer known for textured fabrics and sophisticated use of color. Armani was hired to design a ready-to-wear wholesale men’s line: Hitman. With a strong sense of style, color, packaging and promotion, but no formal training, Armani succeeded at Hitman for eight years.

Armani’s career shifted to entrepreneur and designer when he met Sergio Galeotti, his business and life partner, in the late 1960s. Both men launched the label Giorgio Armani, SpA on 24 July 1975. Armani was among a group of new Italian designers featured at Barney’s, New York in 1976. He also began cultivating contacts in Hollywood; his involvement in the 1980 film American Gigolo was a significant factor in launching Armani’s fame in a global fashion market. Acknowledging Milan as the chicest place for menswear, Paul Schrader, director of American Gigolo, selected Armani to outfit Richard Gere in his role as the urbane paid escort, Julian Kaye. Critics praised the exciting and original wardrobe of the star of the film, and enthusiasts could concurrently purchase the clothing they had just seen on screen in retail stores. Through this film, Armani’s popularity in the US was established, and afterwards, Saks Fifth Avenue premièred his first collection designed expressly for America. Armani was also the first designer to open an office in Los Angeles expressly to increase his celebrity clientele and his presence at the prestigious Academy Award ceremonies.

Recognizing the importance of the feminist movement, Armani drew inspiration from his mother’s simple, dignified style and his sister Rosanna’s penchant for wearing men’s jackets. Crossing gender boundaries, he used his signature minimalist tailoring techniques, softer textiles and earthy colors to create women’s ‘power suits’ that were also feminine. In 1979 Armani received the distinguished Neiman Marcus Fashion Award for interpreting his catwalk aesthetic for mass consumers worldwide. Hollywood’s most admired leading ladies also chose Armani for red carpet galas, making both his gowns and tuxedos the most sought-after (see fig.).

After the death of Sergio Galeotti in 1985, Armani assumed control of his business, expanding the Armani imprint into a comprehensive lifestyle aesthetic, from spectacles to home furnishings. As an astute and democratic businessman, Armani expanded his brand by launching diffusion lines: Emporio Armani for clothing at a level below couture and A/X for designer denim and casual T-shirts; both offered status dressing to a mass audience. In 2000, Armani’s achievement was recognized with a retrospective exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. One of the most successful global enterprises, Giorgio Armani is a privately held and owner-managed business. Armani’s goal was ‘to find a way to make and wear clothes for a time that was less formal but that still yearned for style’ (exh. cat., p. 254) and he has succeeded in artfully capturing the essence of late 20th and early 21st century clothing desires.

Rebecca Arnold was educated at King’s College, London (BA Hons History, 1990), The Courtauld Institute of Art (MA History of Dress, 1993) and University College London (PhD, 2006). Before joining The Courtauld Institute of Art in 2009 as a Senior Lecturer in History of Dress & Textiles, she was a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the History of Design Department at the Royal College of Art and a Visiting Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2006, she was the first Guest Professor at the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University. In 2001, she set up and ran the BA (Hons) Fashion History and Theory at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design.

Her current book project, Documenting Fashion: Modernity and Image in America, 1920-60 considers dress in relation to popular visual culture and through the lens of sensory theory, history of emotion, and memory studies.

The Aston Magna Foundation sponsors educational programs that bring to communities the study of music and other arts of the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries and organized performances at various concert halls.

Photographer and filmmaker.

Founded in 1838 and revamped almost completely by Aristide Boucicaut in 1852, it was one of the first modern department stores. It was a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 1986 to 2011. Now the property of LVMH, it sells a wide range of high-end goods, including food in an adjacent building at 38, rue de Sèvres, called La Grande Épicerie de Paris.

Orvon Gene Autry was born on September 29th, 1907 in Tioga, Texas. His father was a cattle buyer, farmer, and preacher. Autry learned how to ride horses and play the guitar at a young age. Late in his teens, Autry worked as a telegrapher. His interest in show business began one night while working in Chelsea, Oklahoma. The actor Will Rogers came in to the depot Autry was working in, saw the guitar near the young man, and asked him to play. After hearing Autry, Rogers encouraged him to try to find work on the radio. After being turned down for work in New York, Autry got his first job in radio at a radio station in Tulsa. In 1928, Autry was back in New York but this time to record a song which became successful. This got Autry a contract with Columbia Records. His film career began six years after he cut his first record. Throughout the mid- and late-1930s, Autry's star kept rising. His cowboy persona was well regarded by both kids and adults. From 1938 to 1932, he was one of the top ten box-office draws in the nation. Autry continued to record music and star in films in the 1940s and 1950s, only retiring in 1964 at the age of 57. Gene Autry is perhaps best known as the singer of the original "Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer," the second best-selling song in history. In addition to his work in the entertainment business, Autry owned a handful of profitable properties. Gene Autry passed away on October 2nd, 1998 at the age of 91.

As one of the most prolific and celebrated fashion photographers of the 20th century, Richard Avedon seemed destined for a career in the fashion industry. Born on May 15, 1923 in New York, NY, Avedon had fashion in his blood. His father was the owner of a Manhattan clothing store while his mother's family owned a dress manufacturing business. As a young boy, he pored over fashion magazines. Avedon attended Columbia University for a year before dropping out after being hired as a photographer by Merchant Marines. Avedon left Merchant Marines in 1944 and began apprenticing under Alexey Brodovitch, the art director at Harper's Bazaar, at his Design Laboratory at The New School. At the age of 22, Avedon's work began appearing in fashion magazines, first in Junior Bazaar in 1945 then in Harper's Bazaar a year later. Avedon was soon hired as a staff photographer and soon after, was sent to Paris by Brodovitch to cover the fashion shows. Avedon began experimenting with location during his time in Paris, often bringing models to Parisian Cafes or nightclubs. One of his most remembered photographs came about in 1955 when he posed models alongside circus elephants. While displaying talent for on-site photography, Avedon prefered to shoot in his studio, where he could draw out and focus on the emotive presence of his sitters. In the mid 1960s, Avedon left Harper's Bazaar for Vogue. Avedon continued a professional relationship with Vogue into the 1980s, shooting almost all of the cover images for the magazine. During this time, Avedon continued to garner acclaim from the art world for his work. MoMA exhibited his series depicting his terminally-ill father in 1973. The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted a retrospective of Avedon's work two years later. After leaving Vogue in 1988, Avedon continued to work in photography. In 1992, The New Yorker hired Avedon as their first staff photographer. A year later, he published his autobiography. Richard Avedon passed away on October 1, 2004 while on assignment in San Antonio, TX. He was 81 years old.

Avon Products, Inc. manufactures and markets cosmetics and beauty-related products. Its product categories are Beauty, Fashion, and Home. The Beauty category consists of color cosmetics, fragrances, skincare, and personal care. The Fashion category consists of fashion jewelry, watches, apparel, footwear, accessories and children’s products. The Home category consists of gift and decorative products, housewares, entertainment and leisure products, and nutritional products. The company operates through five geographical segments: Latin America; North America; Central & Eastern Europe; Western Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. Avon Products was founded by David H. McConnell in 1886 and is headquartered in New York, NY.“

Norman Axelrod had been at Bloomingdale's for eleven years, and was the Senior Vice President and General Merchandise Manager at the time of this interview. Axelrod started in the summer of 1976 as a retail trainee and continued to work at Bloomingdale's into 1987, at which point he became the president and CEO of Linens 'n Things in 1988.

The B. Altman Company was founded by Benjamin Altman in 1865 at 10th St. and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan's East Village and in the early 1870s, the retail establishment relocated to Ladies' Mile. As the department store steadily grew into one of New York's leading retailers, a larger premises was planned, opening in 1877 at 301 6th Ave between 18th and 19th Streets. In 1904, the New York Evening Sun described the Altman’s Sixth Avenue establishment as “one of the greatest stores in the world … a Bon Marché of the New World.” In 1906, the store relocated once again to a larger premises on Fifth Ave and 34th St. which was dubbed the "Palace of Trade...the store was organized literally by departments: women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing, lingerie, maids’ uniforms, linens, fine lace, and even art objects and rare books and manuscripts, all under one roof." Customer's flocked to the Fifth Avenue location, making B. Altman a pioneer on the development of the Fifth Avenue retail scene.

Upon the death of Benjamin Altman in 1913, the store was operated by his philanthropic organization, the Altman Foundation. However in 1986, the New York state tax code changed, making it illegal for a charitable organization to own a for-profit endeavor which funded it. Sold to other business entities, the company floundered, filing for bankruptcy in 1989 and shuttering its doors in 1990. The B. Altman Building located on Fifth Avenue was granted landmark status by New York City in 1985 and now houses the CUNY Graduate Center and for a brief period was home to NYPL's SIBL Library.

Vitaldi Babani was born in the Middle East but worked primarily in France. Babani's sold and designed goods that were inspired by his Middle-Eastern heritage. When designers like Paul Poiret began appropriating the Middle East aesthetic, Babani's store had already been in business for over two decades. Babani was one of the first stores to sell Fortuny's revolutionary designs. Shortly after showing Fortuny's garments, Babani began designing their own clothes for the store. Babani perfume was sold through Elizabeth Arden in the U.S.

Lauren Bacall was an acclaimed actress, working in Hollywood for over half a century. Born Betty Joan Perske in the Bronx, New York in 1924, Bacall took the Romanian form of her mother's last name when her parents divorced in 1930. Bacall attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, modeling on the side to pay for classes. In 1943, at the age of 18, Bacall found herself on the cover of Harper's Bazaar. The cover caught the attention of Slim Hawks, wife of the Hollywood producer Howard Hawks, who persuaded her husband to bring the young model to Hollywood for a screen test. During the test, Hawks instructed Bacall to speak in a lower register, which became Bacall's signature. Hawks cast Bacall in To Have and To Have Not in 1944. The film became a massive success and helped propel Bacall to stardom. On the set of that film, she met her future husband, Humphrey Bogart. The two married within a year of meeting and would remain so until Bogart's death in 1957. In addition to To Have and To Have Not, the couple starred in three other films together between 1946 and 1948. Bacall would continue her career in Hollywood throughout the 20th and early 21st century. The actress also worked on Broadway, winning a Tony Award in 1970 for her performance in Applause. Lauren Bacall passed away on August 12, 2014 at the age of 89.

Bacall was the subject of the exhibition Lauren Bacall: The Look at The Museum at FIT from March 3-April 4, 2015.

Irving Bader, and his brother Nat, ran Originala, a high-end Seventh Avenue suit and coat house, founded by their father Louis Bader. The company went public in 1961.

Founder of Originala, Inc.

Nat Bader, and his brother Irving, ran Originala, a high-end Seventh Avenue suit and coat house, founded by their father Louis Bader. The company went public in 1961.

Badgley Mischka is an American fashion house launched by Mark Badgley and James Mischka. After meeting in fashion school at Parson's School of Design, the duo cut their teeth under iconic American labels, Mark at Donna Karen and James under Willi Smith. Joining forces in 1988, James says of their vision, "Our style harks back to the glamorous Hollywood of the Forties. The Badgley Mischka signature style is simple, streamlined and thoroughly elegant.”

Formerly owned by Escada, the brand is now the property of Iconix Brand Group.