Gloria Sachs (February 17, 1927 – March 12, 2012) was an American fashion designer. Gloria Sachs Designs, founded in 1970, tailored for the increasing percentage of American women employed in professional and management positions through the 1970s and 1980s.
Gloria Sachs | |
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| Born | Gloria Mildred Wasserman February 17, 1927 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | March 12, 2012 (aged 85) |
| Alma mater | Skidmore College Cranbrook Academy of Art |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
Early life
editGloria Mildred Wasserman was born on February 17, 1927, in Manhattan, New York City. She grew up in Scarsdale and studied at Skidmore College, graduating with a degree in the fine arts in 1947[1] despite entering as a math major.[2] She then attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Michigan, where she studied textile design.[1] In Paris, she studied in the workshop of the painter Fernand Léger, trained under architects Franco Albini and Giò Ponti, and modeled for Balenciaga and Pierre Balmain. From 1948 to 1949, she designed textiles for the furniture designers Hans Knoll and Herman Miller.[3]
Career
editSachs exhibited artwork at the Pratt Institute (1949), the Philadelphia Art Alliance (1950), the Art Institute of Chicago (1950), and the Museum of Modern Art (1951).[4] After she moved back to New York in 1951, she found work at the Bloomingdale's department store as an executive trainee,[3] feeling as though "painting was too lonely a career for a young woman".[2] Eventually she was promoted to assistant buyer and later fashion coordinator.[3] Sachs attested that, around this time, she first brought Capri pants to the United States and called them "capris", after seeing them on her honeymoon to the Italian island of Capri in 1953.[3][2]
In 1958, Sachs founded Gloria Sachs Red Barn, a clothing company that designed for preteens.[3] According to Sachs, the company experienced growth despite not initially receiving financial assistance, but after two years she sold the company for around $50,000 to pay debts.[2] She briefly returned to Bloomingdale's to work as fashion director for children's clothing until 1962, and was then employed by Saks Fifth Avenue as an in-house designer of preteen clothing from 1963 to 1965.[3]
Gloria Sachs Designs
editSachs founded the clothing company Gloria Sachs Designs Ltd. in 1970. Her company sought to design fashionable clothing for working women during a period in the country when there were significant increases in the number of women in professional positions and management.[1][5] Sach's line mostly utilized classic patterns—plaids, dots, foulards, and paisleys—made in unconventional color combinations. Through the decade it focused on separates, including skirts, shirts and coats, tailored in matching fabrics. In the 1980s she continued this style, producing uncoordinated suits as well as sweaters paired with skirts and pants.[6] Sachs' line was sold at stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Neiman Marcus.[1]
Sachs oversaw both the financial and creative operations of her company. As most of the company's fabrics were produced in Europe, she spent four to six months abroad every year managing production. The company's knitted fabrics were produced at a mill in Northern Ireland that she purchased in 1985 following a seven-year working relationship. She founded a holding company, The Greenwich Group, to take ownership of the corporation that owned the mill and also operate in the international market.[2]
Sachs was nominated for a Coty Award in 1983, although it was ultimately awarded to Willi Smith.[7] From 1982 to 1984 she was president of Fashion Group,[3] a professional organization for the fashion industry, having joined the organization in the 1950s.[8]
Later life
editSachs had closed her clothing company by 1994, although she remained active in the industry.[3] Prior to her death, she was arranging the opening of the Fashion Group's first chapter in Shanghai and received an invitation to be a visiting scholar to the China Central Academy of Fine Arts.[3]
Personal life
editSachs was married to Irwin Sachs, a native of Rye, New York. Irwin was the president of the Willard Fairchild Corporation, a manufacturer of women's clothing based in New York.[9] They later divorced.[1]
Sachs died on March 12, 2012, aged 85, at her Manhattan home.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Hevesi, Dennis (March 16, 2012). "Gloria Sachs, Fashion Designer for Working Women, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Green, Wendy (July 14, 1986). "Gloria Sachs: Designing Her Own Business". Women's Wear Daily. Vol. 152, no. 9. pp. 4–5. ProQuest 1445670385.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lockwood, Lisa (March 13, 2012). "Gloria Sachs, Fashion Designer, Dies at 85". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ Martin, Richard, ed. (1995). Contemporary Fashion. New York: St. James Press. p. 457. ISBN 978-1558621732.
- ^ Crowder, Nicole (February 19, 2015). "When the American designer rose to prominence in fashion". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- ^ Milbank, Caroline Rennolds (1989). New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishing. p. 289. ISBN 0810913887.
- ^ Duka, John (September 30, 1983). "Cotty Winners: Smith and Flusser". The New York Times. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ Feitelberg, Rosemary (December 19, 2005). "Fashion Group Turns 75". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ "Nancy Sachs to Marry Paul Wiener". The New York Times. July 15, 1990. Retrieved March 13, 2022.