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To contribute to this collective history project, send pictures and stories about the older women in your life to americanagefashion@gmail.com. The more information you can include (date, place, etc.), the better.-
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Category Archives: 1990
Kay Thompson : A Pioneer in Pants
Unless you love the Eloise books or frequently watch the 1957 film Funny Face you might not know the name Kay Thompson (1909-1998). She was a well known entertainer from the thirties on, with a long list of achievements: singer, … Continue reading
Bad Hair Day? Try a Turban
One of John Tiffany’s jobs as Eleanor Lambert’s assistant was to bring turbans with him in the car when he picked her up from the hairdresser’s. She got her hair done many times a week, but apparently wasn’t always pleased … Continue reading
Carmen Dell’Orefice—“The Quintessential Vogue Woman”
With all the fuss in the press recently about older models in the fashion world, you would think this issue was only invented in the new millennium. However, product lines aimed at the older set have long tried to find … Continue reading
The Vogue Woman Collection
At various points in its long history, the Vogue Pattern Company turned its attention to its older customers. However, it was only in the 1993s that it launched a pattern line designed specifically to address aging figures—the Vogue Woman Collection. … Continue reading
Donna Karan in the Black
I’ve never bought anything by American designer Donna Karan—her clothes are far above my price range. But after reading her new autobiography, My Journey, I think I might have been influenced by her approach to clothing. In the late eighties, … Continue reading
Koko Beall—A Life in Fashion Design
When I wrote about a favorite Vogue Pattern designer Koko Beall in 2014, I didn’t know whether or not she was still alive. Through the magic of the internet, her daughter Victoria Beall found my post. She sent the happy … Continue reading
Claire Shaeffer: Collector, Teacher, Writer
Claire Shaeffer and her husband Charlie are collectors. When you enter their spacious Palm Springs home, their many passions are everywhere on display. The walls are filled bits and pieces they have collected through the years. When you look more … Continue reading
The Stretch & Sew Empire
Ann Person of Stretch & Sew was a brilliant business woman. Her franchises were a self-contained sewing empire, offering patterns, fabric, notions, and classes. On the women’s pages of local newspapers, she gained notoriety as a hugely successful entrepreneur. One … Continue reading
Ann Person of Stretch & Sew
Every avocation has its celebrities, and Ann Person, the founder of Stretch & Sew, was a star in the world of home sewing in the seventies and eighties. As knit clothing hit the market in a big way, she devised … Continue reading
Searching for Koko Beall
Some of my very favorite sewing patterns are by Koko Beall from the Very Easy Vogue series. Recently I came across a short feature about her in an 1981 issue of Vogue Pattern Book that peaked my curiosity. Here’s what … Continue reading