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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.

Eric Gaskins was born in 1958. Gaskins was born in Germany and grew up in Groton, Massachusetts. He attended Lawrence Academy and graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in fine arts. He was trained in Paris by Hubert Givenchy before returning to the United States where he launched his own label in New York in 1987. He designed for Koos Van den Akker, Bob Evans, and Scott Barrie before starting his own label. His designs have been featured on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Spy, Bazaar, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Palm Beach Illustrated. Other significant editorial coverage included such magazines and television programs as Self, New Woman, Elle, Essence and Entertainment Tonight. His celebrity clients include Salma Hayek, Melanie Griffith, Vanessa Williams, Mariah Carey, Geena Davis, Maria Shriver, Jada Pinkett, Jennifer Lopez, Allison Janney, Kim Cattrall, Kathy Bates and Goldie Hawn. He worked as a designer for 22 years before closing his business in 2009 to reveal he had been blogging under the pseudonym Fluff Chance for the blog The Emperor's Old Clothes.