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Harvey T. Boyd was a fashion illustrator, art teacher and painter, working in New York City. Boyd designed for Elizabeth Arden and worked with the Estée Lauder company. From 1968 until his death in 1994, Boyd taught in the art department at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

John Hyde Crawford, known as Jay to friends, was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1930. Crawford studied fashion illustration at Parsons in New York, and soon after graduating, was hired by Bonwit Teller. While at Bonwit, Crawford was tasked to reinterpret the store's violet bouquet symbol. After sketching for about 25 minutes, Crawford came up with the design that Bonwit used until going out of business in 1989. Throughout the 1960s, Crawford drew fashion illustrations for newspaper ads, which often appeared in the New York Times. In 1968, Crawford founded "Quadrille," a fabric and wallpaper company known for bold colors and patterns.

David Croland is an American illustrator and model. He is best remembered today as being Robert Mapplethorpe's first boyfriend.

Donald Earley is an American artist and fashion illustrator. He has worked with many well known companies, including Calvin Klein, Bonwit Teller, Yves St. Laurent, the New York Times, and Bill Blass. In addition to his freelance work, Earley has taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, and, most recently, VCUarts Qatar. Earley holds a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Esther "Esta" Nesbitt was an American artist, well known as a fashion illustrator for various leading publications including Harpers Bazaar, Mademoiselle, and the New York Times Magazine.

Elisabetta Catalano was an Italian photographer who did work for various publications including L'Espresso, Vogue Italia, and the American, French, and English editions of Vogue.

Mats Gustafson (Swedish, b. 1951) began his career as an illustrator in the late 1970s, a time when editorial illustration was eclipsed by photography, and watercolor as a conceptual medium had barely been explored. A graduate of Dramatiska Institutet (University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre) in Stockholm, he first applied his graphic sensibility to the art of stage design. This experience translated into illustration when he began publishing his work in eminent international fashion publications. The elegant and subtly expressive character of Gustafson's watercolor, pastel and cut-out paperworks expanded the possibilities of fashion illustration and nearly single-handedly reinvigorated the genre. Gustafson’s fashion and portrait illustrations have been included in editorial publications such as French and Italian Vogue, The New Yorker, and Visionaire, and he has created advertising art for Hermès, Tiffany & Co., Yohji Yamamoto, and Comme des Garçons. His work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group shows. Gustafson lives in New York.

Tom Morrow (1928-1994) was an American painter and commercial artist best known as the designer of several iconic advertisements for Broadway plays and musicals.

Erica Perl was a fashion illustrator working between the 1950s and 1970s.

Steven Stipelman is a fashion illustrator and a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He has previously worked as a staff illustrator at Henri Bendel and was a fashion artist at Women's Wear Daily for 25 years.

Carl Wilson helped form the Beach Boys as a teenager. He played lead guitar and sang with the group for more than three decades.

Ethel Rabin was an American artist specializing in painting and sculpture.

According to the NY Times, "China Machado was one of the first non-Caucasians to appear in the pages of an American glossy fashion magazine and a model who helped break not only the race barrier but also the age barrier."

Karen Bjornson is a fashion model who has worked in the industry for about 40 years. Born and raised in the Midwestern U.S., Bjornson began modeling in the 1970s when Halston hired her and she became a "house muse." Along with a few other chosen models, Bjornson traveled the world with Halston. The designer was not greedy and encouraged the young model to walk for other designers. Bjornson retired in 1989 to raise her daughters but returned to the runway in 2002, walking for Ralph Rucci. After the Rucci show, Bjornson rejoined the Ford Models agency and has continued to model.

Ramona Saunders was a Black model, and one of the ten who walked in The Battle of Versailles fashion show.

Ronald Reagan was an American actor and politician. He served as the governor of California from 1967-1975, and was the 40th president of the United States from 1981-1989.

Steiner was the president of Genesee Community College from 1975 to 2011 and took a leave of absence, at the request of the SUNY Chancellor, to serve as the interim president of F.I.T. from 1997 to 1998. Steiner has also had an active involvement in the SUNY community college system, serving as acting director to the SUNY Chancellor for Community Colleges; member of the SUNY Task Force on Community College Code and Standards of Operations and Procedures; member of the New York State Education Commissioner's Advisory Council on Higher Education; member, director, and president of the New York State Association of Presidents of Community Colleges; board member of the Institute for Community College Development; and member of the Middle States Commission.

Dr. Allan F. Hershfield, an academic administrator and professor at various colleges and universities, assumed the presidency of FIT in 1992. Dr. Hershfield had been dean of Boston University's Metropolitan College, which specializes in continuing education, since 1989 and before that held high posts at the University of Maryland, and the University of California, among other institutions.

Lawrence L. Bethel was President of FIT from 1953-1965. He was considered a prime mover in the expansion of the school and was the driver behind a 10-year, $36 million dollar plan to add four additional buildings to the campus. He was born in Warrensburg Missouri and graduated from Central Missouri State College in 1928. From there, he earned degrees from Columbia and Yale. He was the author of several books on industrial management and opened new doors to link the fashion industries with FIT. He was also instrumental in helping Mexico and Israel set up schools like FIT. He believed that the growth of community colleges was the most significant development in education in the 20th century.

First chairman of the FIT Board of Trustees and acting president of the college at his death in 1953.

"Born in Alsace in 1876, Max Meyer immigrated to the US with his family in 1890. The family's decision to move was largely undertaken so that Max could avoid compulsory service in the Prussian army and to improve the marriage prospects for his sisters, one of whom married Abraham Beller, the owner of A. Beller & Co. (established in 1890), a cloak and suit manufacturer. Max's formal education ceased at the age of 14 when he went to work for his new brother-in-law, sweeping the sidewalks and executing other menial tasks. Max quickly earned the trust and respect of his new boss and by the age of 21 was promoted to buyer.

Mr. Meyer made his first trip to Paris in 1897. Meyer later recollected that he believed that he was among the first buyers from American ready-to-wear manufacturers to purchase models directly from the couture houses. Over the course of his 39 year career as a buyer and executive for A. Beller & Co., Meyer visited Paris 110 times licensing designs from top houses including Chanel, Lanvin, Cheirut, Jenny, Paquin, Premet, Callot Soeurs, Worth, Drecoll, Poiret, Patou, and many others. Largely the garments were suits or outerwear, but occasionally dresses, which coordinated with an outerwear garment, were included in their collections.

The A. Beller & Co. adaptations of imported models as well as the company's own original designs were of the highest quality and retailed at high-end department stores. The company's product was considered the gold standard for American manufacturers, and as executives, Beller and Meyer were widely respected within the industry. Meyer, in particular, was heavily involved with various garment trade worker unions and an activist for worker's rights and labor reform. Meyer retired from A. Beller & Co. in 1929 two years before the company would shutter its doors amid the Great Depression.

Meyer's personal involvement with the fashion industries did not end upon his retirement. In 1939, he helped found the Central High School of the Needle Trades to prepare young minds and hands for careers in the fashion industry. The High School would expand to become the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1944." (bio by unknown author)

"Martha Deane" was a radio character owned by the WOR radio network in New York. In 1934, Mary Margaret McBride became the first "Martha Deane," followed by Bessy Beatty. From 1941 to 1973, Marian Young Taylor (1908-1973) hosted the weekday news and talk show in New York. Politicians (including presidents), writers, actors, and chefs appeared on her show. Taylor became the most famous "Martha Deane," so much so that the New York Times referred to her as such in her obituary.

Alfred V. Sloan, Jr. was born in New York City in 1921, and grew up in the Bronx in the same building where his father practiced medicine. After graduating from Townsend Harris High School in 1937 at age 15, he obtained his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in both History and English. In 1941, he joined the Air Force, and served overseas for several years during World War Two as a signalman. Around 1946, he returned to the United States, and found a job working for the well-established Strawbridge & Clothier in their New York offices. Simultaneously, he attended New York University on a part-time basis, earning a Master's of Science in Retailing in 1950, and a PhD in education in 1956, also from NYU. He then began a teaching job at SUNY Orange (Orange County Community College). After two years, he was recruited by FIT, and taught various business and marketing courses there for an impressive 58 years, until his retirement in December, 2016. Professor Sloan passed away on Friday, July 27, 2018.

"Mildred Finger Haines ... helped shape fashion tastes for four decades as a top buyer for department stores and a consultant to clothes makers and retailers.... From the late 1940's through the late 1960's, Mrs. Haines, known throughout her career as Mildred Finger, was a buyer of ready-to-wear at Macy's, Ohrbach's and Bergdorf Goodman, and was one of New York City's most often cited taste makers. At Bergdorf's, in particular, she was noted for bringing European styles to American consumers. She later became Vice President of Charles of the Ritz, headed fashion merchandising for Yves St. Laurent and became an independent consultant, with clients like the Limited and Arthur D. Little. Suffering from multiple sclerosis, she retired in 1986. In succeeding years, she frequently contributed her knowledge of the fashion industry to the oral history projects of the American Jewish Committee and the Fashion Institute of Technology...." New York Times Obituary, 1995

Ralph Lauren is the founder of the Ralph Lauren Corporation. Prior to its foundation, Lauren worked briefly at Brooks Brothers as a sales assistant before moving on to work at tie manufacturer Beau Brummell. In 1967, Lauren started his own line under Beau Brummell, which he named "Polo" based on his interest in sports. His first year of business was a massive success, selling his designs in the mens clothing department of large department stores including Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus. He won the Coty Award for his men's designs in 1970, and in 1972, he designed what is now the Ralph Lauren brand's signature look with his short-sleeved collared polo shirts. He also went on to outfit the cast for major films including the 1974 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, and became well known for Diane Keaton's wardrobe in 1977's Annie Hall.

37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda; graduated from Duke University School of Law.

Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) was a French fashion designer. Beginning her career as a milliner, Lanvin opened the House of Lanvin in 1893. In 1909, Lanvin joined the Syndicat de la Couture, the reglating body of French fashion houses. In addition to women's fashion, Lanvin also designed menwear and children's clothes. After her death in 1946, her daughter hired Antonio Castillo as head designer.

After Jeanne Lanvin's death in 1946, Lanvin's daughter hired Antonio Castillo as head designer in 1950. Castillo was a Spanish fashion designer. Before designing for the House of Lanvin, Castillo worked for various couture houses and worked as a costume designer. After leaving Lanvin, Castillo continued to design clothes independently.

Digby Morton was an Irish fashion designer. Morton worked as a designer at Lachasse until opening his own fashion house in 1930. Morton was a founding member of Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, working throughout World War II and creating designs for military uniforms. After the war, Morton incorporated popular ready-to-wear pieces into his collection. In 1957, Morton closed his couture house and became Design Director of Reldan-Digby Morton, which produced ready-to-wear fashions.

Victor Stiebel (1907-1976) was a British couturier. Born in South Africa, Stiebel began his career by designing theatre wardrobe at Cambridge University. In 1932, Stiebel opened his own fashion house in London. After closing his house temporarily during World War II, Stiebel returned to designing and became Chariman of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers. He is known for his designs for royalty, including Princess Margaret, as well as his designs for the Women's Royal Navy Service uniforms. Stiebel closed his house in 1963.

Martin Unger was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1939, where he began his career in New York as a sewing machine operator. He then began to work for large fashion firms such as Frank Gallant and Zelinka Matlick, during which time he attended European fashion shows where he would view and select fabrics for designs. Later in his career, Unger worked as a designer of affordable suits and coats for Youthcraft in Kansas City until the factory closed in the early 1990s.

Maria Antonelli was born in 1903, in Siena, Italy. She began her career in 1932. She founded her atelier in 1951. That same year, she was part of a group of designers who showed in a fashion show produced by Giovanni Battista Giorgini in Florence. The show was meant to demonstrate the strength of the Italian fashion industry. Maria Antonelli passed away on August 22, 1969 at the age of 66.

Bernice Jablow is fashion designer Maurice Rentner's daughter.

Paula Neiman is a stylist who worked with Maurice Rentner

Ira Rentner was the brother of Maurice Rentner and together they formed M & H Rentner in 1913. He designed from the 1940s into the 1960s.

Stephen Elkin was the chairman and chief executive officer of Bergdorf Goodman. He joined the department store in 1978 as senior vice president and chief financial officer. He became the CEO in 1994. He left Bergdorf Goodman in 2000 and took a position at Fashion500.com, only to leave six months later.

Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has personally organized more than 20 exhibitions since 1997, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, London Fashion, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Shoe Obsession, Daphne Guinness, A Queer History of Fashion, and Dance and Fashion. She is also founder and editor in chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, the first peer-reviewed, scholarly journal in Fashion Studies.

Steele combines serious scholarship (and a Yale Ph.D.) with a rare ability to communicate with general audiences. She is author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Fashion and Eroticism, Paris Fashion, Women of Fashion, Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power, The Corset: A Cultural History, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Japan Fashion Now, The Impossible Collection Fashion, The Berg Companion to Fashion, and Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT, as well as contributing essays to publications, such as Fashion and Art and Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity. Her books have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.

As author, curator, editor, and public intellectual, Valerie Steele has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies and in raising awareness of the cultural significance of fashion. She has appeared on many television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Undressed: The Story of Fashion. Described in The Washington Post as one of fashions brainiest women and by Suzy Menkes as The Freud of Fashion, she was listed among Fashions 50 Most Powerful by the Daily News and as one of The People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry in the Business of Fashion 500 (2014).

Estelle Ellis was born on November 12, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Hunter College in 1940, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism, Ellis began a career in publishing. Ellis was crucial in the founding of Seventeen magazine in 1943, assisting Helen Valentine with design and advertising for the magazine. In 1958, Ellis founded Business Image, Incorporated, a creative marketing firm that stressed the importance of market and product positioning. Her company worked primarily with Condé Nast publications but other businesses, such as Yves Saint-Laurent Fragrances, Evan-Picone, AT&T, and Scoville, hired Business Image as well.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, Ellis began working with the Fashion Institute of Technology, creating programs and fundraising campaigns to help with financial support. During the 1990s, Ellis focused on writing, co-authoring At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries (1995), At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live With and Care for Their Treasures (1999), and The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (2000). Estelle Ellis passed away on July 12, 2012.

Edward (Ed) Finkelstein was born on March 30, 1925 in New Rochelle, N.Y. He majored in economics at Harvard and received his M.B.A from the Harvard Business School. One of his first jobs after graduating was at Macy's, working as a fabric buyer, beginning in 1949. From 1956 to 1962, Finkelstein was head of the budget and ready-to-wear departments. Finkelstein oversaw the merchandising and sales promotion divisions at the Bamberger's chain in New Jersey between 1962 and 1969. He moved to California in 1969 and made "record profits" for the California division. Finkelstein moved back to the East Coast in 1974, this time settling down in New York City; he was now president of Macy's New York. He worked for the Macy's in the city, helping the company grow their annual sales by more than 20% by 1982. Finkelman became a chairman of what is now Macy's Inc. in 1980. Under his control, Finkelstein opened new Macy's stores throughout the nation. Along with 400 executives, Finkelstein, in 1986, bought Macy's to save it from a hostile takeover. Unfortunately, this purchase stressed Macy's already weak financial state, and in 1992, the company declared bankruptcy. In April of that year, Finkelstein resigned from his position at the company. Ed Finkelstein passed away in June, 2014 at the age of 89.

James E. Preston served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products Inc. from January 1989 to June 1998 and as its President from November 1988 to June 1998. Mr. Preston serves as the Chairman of Avon International Operations Inc. He has served on many other boards and positions of well known companies.

Sophie Gimbel, more well-known as Sophie of Saks, was born Sophie Hass in 1898 in Houston, Texas. She attended Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. In the late 1920s she moved to New York and was hired as a stylist at Saks Fifth Avenue. Shortly thereafter she was asked to re-vamp their foundering custom-order Salon Moderne. She was successful in this endeavor, as well as with her line of ready-to-wear, Sophie Originals. In 1931 she married Adam Gimbel who was president of Saks Fifth Avenue from 1926 to 1969. Sophie did not sketch her designs, rather, she used sketchers to assist with visualizing her ideas, or purchased designs from other designers and modified them. She enjoyed significant success, particularly in the 1940s, and her designs were noted for their elegance. Her clientele included Claudette Colbert, Rose Kennedy, and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson who wore a red coat and dress designed by Sophie Gimbel to her husband's inauguration in 1965. Sophie Gimbel retired in 1969 and passed away in 1981.

Born to a Bavarian family in 1817, Gimbel immigrated to the United States in 1833. Working as a ship hand to pay for the voyage, he settled in New Orleans where he found employment as a dock worker. Paying attention to the various pettlers that sold their wares along the coast, Gimbel began to save his earnings to purchase an inventory of needles, thread, and cloth. After amassing an inventory he headed north along the Mississippi River. After five years of selling his wares along the river, he was able to afford a horse and cart to more easily sell his goods and increase the variety of his inventory. In 1842, Gimbel arrived in Vincennes, Indiana where his sales were so successful he decided to settle in the town and purchased a small house which would serve as his home and storefront named The Palace of Trade. The store continued to increase its inventory and sold all kinds of goods including: nails, gunpowder, harnesses, shawls, shows, cloth, and pelts. In 1869 he expanded his business by opening a store in Danville, Illinois. In 1887, after selling his store in Vincennes, Gimbel moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he purchased a four-story store on the corner of Wisconsin and Grand. The Gimbels store became the largest dry goods vendor in the city, with its own elevator and 40-75 salespeople. In 1894, the Gimbel Brothers Company expanded by purchasing another location in Philadelphia. Adam Gimbel died two years later in 1896 at the age of 79.

Photographer

After his hometown of Valladolid, Spain granted him a scholarship to study at the École des Beaux Arts, Benito moved to Paris in 1912. While completing his studies, he became part of a circle of Spanish artists that included Picasso and Juan Gris and was inspired by the nascent Cubist and Futurist art movements. A painter his whole life, Benito is best known for his illustration work for both French and American publications—Femina, Gazette du bon ton, Vogue and Vanity Fair—which necessitated him to split his time living between Paris and New York during the 1920s and 1930s. Hollywood celebrities, including Gloria Swanson, employed his talents as an interior designer and portraitist. He returned to his roots the last two decades of his life, living quietly as a painter in Valladolid.

Charles Martin was one of the core group of artist contributors to Gazette du bon ton, known as the “Beau Brummels of the Brush.” As a fashion illustrator, Martin contributed to publications such as Marcelle Demay’s La Mode en mil neuf cent douze chez Marcelle Demay (1912), Modes et manières d’aujourd’hui (1913) and Journal des dames et des modes but he also established himself as a leading graphic artist and poster designer, as well as a set and costume designer for ballet and theater. Perhaps more than any other illustrator of the period, Martin’s style is distinctively Cubist. His most renowned work is the folio Sports et divertissements in which Martin’s illustration accompany the short musical scores of famed composer Erik Satie who took “sports and leisure” as his inspiration and theme.

Born in Rome in 1877, Enrico Sacchetti followed his father’s wishes and graduated with a degree in math and physics, despite the fact he dreamed of becoming an artist. His art training was informal, gained by apprenticing in the studios of Florentine painters and printmakers, where he had attended school. After briefly working as a satirical illustrator in Milan and Argentina, Sacchetti found his way to Paris where he was introduced to the world of fashion illustration in 1912, contributing to periodicals such as Gazette du bon ton and La Vie Parisienne. His album, Robes et femmes which satirized contemporary fashions of the day, was released in 1913. The outbreak of WWI forced Sacchetti back to his native Italy where he continued to work as an illustrator for humor journals, satirical newspapers and children’s books.

Madame Margé (Mrs. Marguerite Norlin Faupel), a lauded American fashion designer who won the Com Pugh Gold Prize, the Gossard Trophy, and the Mallison Cup, lived from 1878-1950. She made models for fashion houses (Skinner, Cheney, American Woolen Co.) and retail stores (Wannamaker and Marshall Field) and worked as a fashion consultant to Broadway and Hollywood. She operated a Chicago shop and a New York studio on Madison Avenue. Her 1936-1937 Javanese Batik collection--in particular, her famous 'sarong dress'--was shown in NY, Chicago, and Hollywood and contributed to a trend for Asiatic textiles within the fashion industry.

Robert Dudley (1905-1992) was a New York-based American millinery designer best known for his collections of women's hats popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Dudley operated the Chez Robert hat salon within Saks Fifth Avenue as well as his own shop, Robert Dudley Originals, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His clientele included Broadway actress and society figures. Dudley designed the hats for several films, including the 1940 Hitchcock film "Rebecca." He worked as an interior designer in the latter part of his life.

"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/

Marie-Pierre Tattarachi was a fashion designer who designed young and wearable collections with lots of strong colors and affordable prices. She designed for several years and finally received attention around 1981. She was a former illustrator and painter and decided to start her business after meeting many people in the industry.

John Ray Dunning was a pioneer in the development of nuclear energy and a professor of physics at Columbia University.

Dominican-born American fashion designer. De la Renta’s illustrious career spans nearly six decades and is part of the canon of American fashion design (see fig.). Known for flattering, highly wearable designs characterized by sophisticated femininity and romantic details, de la Renta made a name for himself both as a designer and as a man of style at the centre of prominent social circles.

Oscar de la Renta was born the youngest child and only boy in a family of six sisters, to a Dominican mother, Maria Fiallo, and a Puerto Rican father, Oscar Ortiz de la Renta. Raised under the matriarchal rule of his maternal grandmother, de la Renta’s childhood experiences in the lushly tropical community surrounded by grand and proper women in crisply starched ruffles shaped his perception of femininity as strength. The regalia of the Catholic Church and the aristocratic European glamour of an uncle’s Russian mistress supplied his romantic nature with an exotic aesthetic vocabulary.

De la Renta’s earliest ambition was to be an artist. Despite his father’s practical concerns, de la Renta’s mother supported him and, at the age of 16, he enrolled in the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo. In 1951, de la Renta transferred his studies to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In order to support his increasingly social lifestyle, and to avoid incurring further debt to his father, de la Renta sketched fashion illustrations for leading Spanish fashion houses from 1951 until 1955. In 1955, Mrs John Lodge, wife of the US ambassador to Spain, asked de la Renta to design a gown for her daughter, Beatrice, to be worn at the young woman’s début. Because of the ambassador’s political position and the social significance of the debutante ritual, the dress was featured on the cover of Life magazine.

Eventually de la Renta was hired by the celebrated couturier, Cristobal Balenciaga, to sketch for his Madrid house, Eisa. Less than a year later, de la Renta traveled to Paris where he exaggerated his experience in order to secure a position under Spanish-born designer, Antonio Castillo (1908–84). After a two-week crash course in draping and tailoring, de la Renta began his career as an assistant designer in the Paris couture house, Lanvin–Castillo.

In 1962 de la Renta was offered work in the houses of both Christian Dior and Elizabeth Arden. Taking the advice of Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, de la Renta joined Elizabeth Arden as head designer—a higher position than was being offered at Dior. In 1965, de la Renta observed market trends towards ready-to-wear and left Arden’s Fifth Avenue custom establishment for Jane Derby Manufacturing, where he began his signature ready-to-wear label. In August 1965, the elderly Mrs Derby died and de la Renta partnered with Ben and Gerald Shaw to purchase the company. In 1969, Richton International bought de la Renta’s business, making his the first name of a fashion designer listed on the stock exchange. In 1973, de la Renta reclaimed ownership of the organization, naming it Oscar de la Renta Limited.

De la Renta’s label grew to offer his signature style to a diverse audience through ready-to-wear, fur, accessories, fragrance, and bridal collections. His women’s collections range from boutique to high-end ready-to-wear lines, including his Signature Collection, “Oscar by Oscar de la Renta” (which launched both petite and plus size divisions), “Pink Label,” and “O for Oscar.” His menswear collection comprises both formal wear and sportswear. Oscar de la Renta Ltd has experimented with several licensing agreements to produce accessories and home furnishings and, although the company has in large part moved away from licensing in order to better control brand image, a home furnishings agreement with Century Furniture has remained successful.

In 1992, Oscar de la Renta was signed by Pierre Balmain to design both haute couture and ready-to-wear, making him the first American designer to head a Parisian couture house. He held the position until 2003.

From the beginning of his career, de la Renta was recognized for his contributions to the field of fashion. In June of 1967 he was awarded his first Coty Award for his Russian Collection. In 1968 he received a Coty Return Award for his 1968 Belle Epoque look. He was elected to the Coty Hall of Fame in 1973. Also in 1973, de la Renta was one of five American designers chosen to participate in a first-time collaboration between French and American designers for a fashion show at the palace of Versailles. In 1980 de la Renta received the Lord and Taylor Creative Design Award. In 1990 he was awarded the second Crystal Star Award for Design Excellence from Drexel’s Nesbill College of Design Arts. Also in 1990, de la Renta, a two-time Council of Fashion Designers of America ex-president, received the organization’s lifetime achievement award.

De la Renta launched his first perfume, Oscar, in 1977; enormously successful, it received the Fragrance Foundation Perennial Success Award in 1991. Subsequently, de la Renta offered additional perfumes for women: Ruffles (1983), Volupté (1992), SO de la Renta (1997), Intrusion (2002), and Rosamor (2004). His scents for men include Oscar for Men and Oscar Pour Lui.

De la Renta was recognized as often for his charm as for his fashion designs. His first marriage to Françoise de Langlade from 1967 until her death in 1983 was a powerful social union. Their home was acknowledged in a 1980 New York Times Magazine article for its elegant salon-like dinners where fascinating figures from all disciplines would meet. After Langlade’s death, Oscar adopted an orphan from La Casa del Niño, the orphanage he had founded in 1982, naming him Moises Oscar de la Renta. In 1989 he married Annette Reed, heiress to the Englehard metals fortune, expanding his family to include stepchildren. Though de la Renta’s family adopted a quiet and more domestic life, de la Renta was famous for his gregarious hospitality.

De la Renta became an American citizen in 1971, but maintained a home and very close ties in the Domican Republic. In 1970, de la Renta was made a Knight of the Order of Juan Palo Duarte and Grand Commander of the Order of Christopher Columbus by the Dominican Republic’s president Joaquin Balanguer. In the early 1970s, de la Renta began a continuing effort to give back something to his homeland by sponsoring charity fashion shows to benefit a Dominican Republic orphanage. In 1982 he founded La Casa del Niño, a home and school for orphans and the children of poor families that he continued to support and visit regularly.

De la Renta’s design aesthetic blends an exotic femininity defined by ruffles, elaborate surface treatments, luxurious textures, and unapologetic use of colour with flattering silhouettes to create extremely wearable garments. Consequently, periods of menswear appropriation and minimalism proved difficult for him. He most recognizably designed gowns for inaugural events, such as those for First Ladies Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush. Known for making pretty, well-crafted clothes rather than designer statements, de la Renta attributed his success to an understanding of women’s needs achieved through instinct and observation. Critics challenged him for being excessively romantic or unoriginal, but his enormous success with America’s most stylish and high-profile women defies critique.

David Norman Dinkins (1927 - ) was the first African American mayor of New York (1990–93). Dinkins studied mathematics at Howard University. After graduating, he attended Brooklyn Law School. He became acquainted with politics after meeting his wife, Joyce Burrows, daughter of a New York state assemblyman. His career in politics began in 1965, winning a seat on the state assembly. After that, Dinkins continued his political career, culminating in his 1989 bid for mayor. After serving one term, Dinkins became a professor at Columbia University.

American fashion designer. Few designers have managed to be as influential as Norma Kamali without extensive press coverage. Specializing in ready-to-wear garments, Kamali introduced the world to the concepts of high-heeled sneakers and mix-and-match bikinis, originated the ‘sleeping bag’ coat and was the first designer to see the wide sartorial possibilities of both sweatshirt jersey and parachute silk.

Kamali received her training at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, graduating in 1964 with a degree in fashion illustration. Kamali then worked as an airline employee, a job that introduced her to the pleasures of transatlantic shopping. In 1968, inspired by the fashions she saw in ‘swinging’ London, Kamali opened a boutique on 53rd Street in Manhattan. Mixed in with her British finds were her original designs, featuring appliqués of lizard, leather and snakeskin and rhinestone-studded t-shirts. When she moved to Madison Avenue in 1973, a New York Times shopping column reported that she was showing simple, 1920s- inspired chemise dresses in printed crêpe de chine and chiffon, as well as tailored trouser suits. In 1974 Kamali began producing garments designed from military surplus parachute silk, such as draped jackets and trousers, billowy skirts and dresses that looked like partially deflated parachutes and incorporated the original ripcords into their design. In 1975 Kamali designed her successful ‘sleeping-bag’ coat, inspired by a camping trip. The down-filled coats were voluminous but light and warm, and have since become cold-weather staples. In the late 1970s, Kamali’s swimsuit line, whether structured maillots in white or gold lamé, recalling the glamour of 1940s Hollywood, or revealing bikinis with plunging v-necklines, cutouts and high-cut legs, also became a mainstay in the industry. In July 1978 Kamali restructured her business interests and started a new line, OMO (On My Own) at a new address on West 56th Street.

Kamali began the 1980s with a collection that took grey sweatshirt jersey out of the gymnasium and onto the street in the form of short dresses and skirts, leggings, jackets with nipped-in waists and strong shoulders. Kamali’s designs launched the fitness-wear craze of the 1980s and caused countless imitators. Her fall collection that year featured oversized plaid flannel jumpsuits, dresses and blouses paired with leggings and shown with thick socks and heavy boots. This became another defining 1980s ‘look’ that was copied by many designers and mass market manufacturers. Kamali concentrated on cotton Lycra body stockings next, which she said could be worn for everything from jogging to dancing, layered with other garments to create a variety of ensembles.

The decade was one of accolades for the designer; in 1981 she won the Coty Award for Design Innovation, followed by a Coty Award for women’s design in 1982. In 1983 she received both the Coty Hall of Fame Award and the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for outstanding women’s fashion. Her designs were featured on the cover of Vogue in June 1982 and again in May 1983.

Kamali works by draping fabric directly onto herself, favouring a 1940s-inspired, retrospective style that includes platform sandals, high-waisted trousers, pencil skirts, peplum jackets, leopard prints and exaggerated shoulder pads in both her personal wardrobe and in her collections. In 2002 Kamali was inducted into the Fashion Center Business Improvement District’s Fashion Walk of Fame for her ‘spirit of experimentation’.

Kamali is also known as an innovator in fashion marketing and merchandising. Her three story store on 57th Street houses her retail space, design studio, offices and a café that has been recognized for its cutting-edge interior design. In 1984 Kamali presented her designs in a video entitled Fall Fantasy. In 1996 Kamali became one of the first fashion designers to use the internet as a marketing tool when she simultaneously showed her fall collection on the runway and online. Throughout the early 2000s Kamali remained innovative in the design and marketing of her creations, maintaining an active website. In 2006 Kamali teamed up with the sporting equipment company Everlast to design a contemporary sportswear collection, and in 2008 she entered into a partnership with the mass retail chain Wal-Mart, where she has designed women’s apparel, children’s wear, footwear, accessories and home products.

Aaron Feuerstein was the inventor of Polartec fleece and the owner of Malden Mills Industry, a textile firm located in Boston, MA. The company was founded by Feuerstein's grandfather. Shortly after graduating from the Boston Latin School, Feuerstein joined the family business in 1947. He replaced his father as CEO of the business in the mid-1950s.

Anna Quindlen is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Quindlen became a go-to writer on the joys and challenges of family, motherhood, and modern life.