Shari Belefonte is an American model and actress. Her career began in the early 1980s as a print model, and she appeared in television commercials for Calvin Klein Jeans. As an actor, she was a favorite of television producer Aaron Spelling who regularly cast her in his productions. Belefonte is the daughter of Marguerite and Harry Belefonte; the latter being the famed singer and performer of the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Joy Bell is an fashion model who revived her illustrious career of her youth in the 1970s and 1980s, in the 2000s to fill a gap in the market for middle-aged models. As such she has been the face of Oil of Olay costmetics, Maybelline and has been featured on the cover of Times magazine.
Ben Gershel was coat and suit house. "From the nineteen‐thirties through the fifties it was regarded as one of the top flight houses, along with Traina-Norell, Ben Zuckerman and Monte‐Sano and Pruzan."
Ben Thylan Furs was founded in 1943 by Ben Thylan (1923 - 2010). His store sold luxury furs. In 1985, he and his business were charged with sales tax evasion. Ben Thylan Furs, a prominent New York City furrier, closed its doors in 2010 after their founders death. His daughter Jane was President of the business for the last 25 years.
Robert Bendheim (1916 - 2009) was a textile executive at the M. Lowenstein Corporation. Bendheim was first hired at M. Lowenstein in 1946 as a trainee. From 1972 to 1985, Bendheim was the chief executive of the company.
French chemist, decorator, composer and painter, leader of the Art Deco movement.
Fira Benenson was born in Baku, Russia around 1898. Her family relocated to New York after the Bolshevik revolution began in Russia. Benenson opened a dress shop on Madison Avenue partly to help out other Russian emigres. From 1934 to 1948, Benenson headed Bonwit and Teller's salon de couture. After leaving Bonwit and Teller, she opened her own boutique, focusing on designing for older clients. Throughout her life, Benenson traveled to Paris to see French fashion shows, only breaking her pattern during WWII. Benenson passed away in 1977.
Benetton Group is a global fashion brand based in Ponzano Veneto, Italy founded in 1965. Benetton Group has a network of approximately 4,000 stores worldwide.
Jack Benny was an American entertainer. Born on February 14, 1894, Benny began his illustrious career in 1911 at the age of 18. His Vaudeville act was playing the violin. He began getting attention when he added comedy to his music routine. By 1929, Benny was a bona-fide star, appearing in the MGM produced "The Hollywood Revue of 1929." While he continued to act in film throughout his career, he was most celebrated for his radio show "The Jack Benny Program," which was on the air from 1932-1955. In 1950, the radio program was turned into a T.V. show under the same name. Running concurrent with the radio program for five years, the T.V. show remained on air until 1965. Jack Benny passed away at the age of 80 in 1974.
Christian Bérard was born in Paris in 1902. He studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly. His first exhibition was held at the Gallery Pierre in 1920. A decade later, he began making costumes and sets for the stage in France. He also began making drawings for fashion designers like Elsa Schiaparelli. He died suddenly in 1949 at the age of 46.
Marisa Berenson is a fashion model and actress. She was born on February 15, 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. She is the granddaughter of fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. It was Diana Vreeland who pressured Berenson, then 16, to model. By the late 1960s, Berenson became one of the most sought-after models in the business, regularly appearing on the cover of Vogue. Her first film was "Death in Venice," directed by her then-boyfriend Helmut Berger's lover Luchino Visconti. Following her performance in Visconti's film, Bob Fosse cast her in a supporting role in 1972's "Cabaret." After appearing in another high-profile films, including Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon," Berenson focused less on acting and more on her personal life. Berenson continues to act and model, but spends most of her time at her villa just outside of Marrakech, Morocco.
"Fashion Designer Anne Marie Beretta was born in 1937 in Béziers, France. She arrived in Paris in 1957 at the age of 20 and was encouraged by Roger Bauer at Jacques Griffe to pursue a career in fashion.
In the 50's, she worked for Antonio Castillo, designing for the theatre in her spare time. She also worked for Jacques Esterel for some time. In 1965, she joined manufacturer Pierre d'Alby and launched a highly successful line of brown linen garments. She then went on to work for Georges Edelman, Ramosport - who manufactured her rainwear line in the 80's - and thereafter for Bercher.
In 1974, after about 20 years in training, Anne-Marie Beretta established her own ready-to-wear label. She has a serious sombre style and sees her clothes as mobile sculptures. She also designs ski-wear. Max Mara's collections of stylishly tailored suits were designed by Anne-Marie Beretta. Her trademark is a play on proportions, from wide collared coats to mid-calf length trousers and asymmetrical lines.
In 1986 she was awarded the prestigious French honour of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres." https://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/designers/annemarie-beretta/
Bergdorf Goodman (New York, N.Y.)
Bergdorf Goodman began as a custom tailoring shop in 1901, named such after Edwin Goodman (1876-1953) bought out his partners in what had previously been the tailoring firm of Bergdorf and Voigt. Goodman had acquired a reputation for immaculate tailoring and an inspired understanding of cut and materials. Bergdorf Goodman expanded into ready-to-wear in 1923, but continued to offer custom clothing and millinery well into the 1960s. It was one of the last department stores to offer this service, indicative of the very wealthy clientele who favored Bergdorf Goodman and placed orders from around the globe. Primary couturier to New York society, Edwin Bergman and the Bergdorf Goodman custom salon also outfitted international royalty, Broadway and Hollywood stars, and the elites of Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and the West Coast, many of whom spent $100,000/year in the store. Bergdorf Goodman was known for the immaculate craftsmanship of its clothes, and later for furs.
The custom salon was never strictly profitable for Bergdorf Goodman because of the high cost of labor and materials, and the cost of research and buying trips to Paris and Italy. A 1951 Business Week article on the department store reported that the custom salon “has not made money since 1929.” The salon employed 3 top-notch designers, 115 dressmakers, 55 tailors, 14 dressers, a “string of saleswomen, models, and assistants,” not to mention the sketch-makers and watercolorists who produced the sketches that comprise most of this collection. But this boutique service raised the profile of the department store and the house designers who worked in the custom salon also contributed designs for Bergdorf Goodman’s ready-to-wear collection. Edwin Goodman has been credited with extending the construction techniques of higher-end garments (deep hems and cutting on the true bias) to ready-to-wear, and raising the standards for the mass manufacture of clothing in the United States.
Andrew Goodman (1907-1993) succeeded his father as President of the store in 1951 on the occasion of the store’s 50th anniversary, and remained active until 1975, three years after it became part of the Broadway-Hale department store chain. Bergdorf Goodman subsequently became a division of the Neiman Marcus group. The store has been at its present location at 58th Street and Fifth Avenue since 1928. Unlike other department stores, Bergdorf Goodman never expanded to include branches in the suburbs.
Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman.
Paul Berger was a professor at FIT in the 1950s. He taught management.
Born around 1898, Harvey Berin was one of the leading New York designers who helped establish the U.S. as a competitor to the French fashion industry. Berin was 15 when he first began working in New York's garment district. He opened his business, Casino, in 1922 on Seventh Ave in New York. Berin and his designer won a Coty Award for the brand's afternoon and evening dresses. Berin passes away in 1988.
Couturier Augusta Bernard elided her name (as was fashionable at the moment) in 1919 when she opened her couture house at 3, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. By the 1930s, she had established herself as a top Parisian couture house known for her beautifully made, pale colored evening gowns, which often functioned as blank canvases for her clients' elaborate jewels. At the same time, amidst the Depression of the 1930s, client's began dodging their bills and the house began to suffer. Madame Bernard elected to retire, closing her couture house in 1934.
Alex A. Bernstein was the founder and president of the Fur Trade Foundation. Born around 1880, Bernstein seems to have spent his life in the fur industry. Bernstein also sat on the board of the Fur Charity Chest, working as chairman of the distribution committees. In addition to his work in the fur trade, Bernstein had been a director of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Alex Bernstein passed away in 1971 at the age of 91.
Aline Bernstein was a production designer working in the early 20th Century. She was hired by the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York as a costume designer in 1915. Bernstein would design costumes for every production put on by the Neighborhood Playhouse as well as occasionally creating sets for their shows. During her spare time, she would study historic costume, visiting museum collections throughout the city. When the theater closed in 1927, Bernstein continued to design for Broadway productions. In 1937, she helped establish the Museum of Costume Art, which was later incorporated into the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
