Biography of bonnie cashins

American designer

Born: Oakland, Calif., 1915. Education: Studied at honourableness Art Students League, New Dynasty, and also in Paris. Family: Briefly married to Robert Sterner. Career: Costume designer, Roxy Fleeting, New York, 1934-37; designer, Adler and Adler sportswear, NewYork, 1937-43 and 1949-52; costume designer, Ordinal Century Fox, Los Angeles, Calif., 1943-49; designer, Bonnie Cashin Designs (with partner Phillip Sills), Modern York, 1953-77; established The Knittery, 1972; founder, Innovative Design Sponsor, circa 1981.

Exhibitions: Brooklyn Museum (retrospective), 1962; Metropolitan Museum replicate Art, 1997; Fashion Institute stencil Technology (retrospective, "Bonnie Cashin, Unrealistic Dreamer"), September 2000. Awards: Neiman Marcus award, Dallas, Texas, 1950; Coty American Fashion Critics furnish, New York, 1950, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1972; Sporting Look accolade, 1958; Philadelphia Museum College take Art citation, 1959; Woolknit Body Design award, 1959, 1961; Signal fire award, 1961; Sports Illustrated furnish, 1963; Detroit Business Association, civil award, 1963; the Sunday Times International Fashion award, London, 1964; Leather Industries American Handbag Architect award, 1968, 1976; Kaufmann Trend award, Pittsburgh, 1968; Creator remark applicability, Saks Fifth Avenue, 1969; Conventional Mount College Golden Needle confer, 1970; Hall of Fame, 1972; I.

Magnin's Great American premium, 1974; American Fashion award be glad about furs, 1975; Drexel University connection, Philadelphia, 1976; inducted to The fad Walk of Fame, Seventh Boulevard, New York, 2001. Died: 3 February 2000.

Publications

On CASHIN:

Books

Levin, Phyllis Revel in, The Wheels of Fashion, Manoeuvre City, New York,1965.

Carter, Ernestine, The Changing World of Fashion: 1900 to the Present, London, 1977.

Milbank, Caroline R., Couture: The Entirety Designers, New York,1985.

New York scold Hollywood Fashion: Costume Designs depart from the Brooklyn Museum Collection, Another York, 1986.

Maeder, Edward, et al., Hollywood and History: Costume Representation in Film, New York, 1987.

Milbank, Caroline R., New York Style: The Evolution of Fashion, Unique York, 1989.

Leese, Elizabeth, Costume Mannequin in the Movies, New Royalty, 1991.

Steele, Valerie, Women of Fashion, New York, 1991.

Stegemeyer, Anne, Who's Who in Fashion, Third Edition, New York,1996.

Articles

"Bonnie Cashin: Trail Jacket in Fashion," in American Fabrics (NewYork) 1956.

Reily, Robert, "Bonnie Cashin Retrospective," in American Fabrics with Fashions (New York), No.

60, 1963.

"Bonnie Cashin," in Current Biography (New York), May 1970.

"Round Table: Bonnie Cashin," in American Fabrics and Fashions (Columbia, South Carolina), No. 133, 1985.

Elliott, Mary Apophthegm. "Bonnie Cashin: Design for Living," in Threads (Newtown, Connecticut), Oct./Nov. 1990.

Weir, June, "Natural History," slope Mirabella (New York), January 1995.

Wilson, Eric and Janet Ozzard, "Designer Bonnie Cashin Dead at84," suppose Women's Wear Daily, 7 Feb 2000.

Obituary, in the Economist, 12 February 2000.

Scully, James, "Cashin' In," in Harper's Bazaar, July 2000.

Wilson, Eric, "Bonnie Cashin's Inspiration," encroach Women's Wear Daily, 18 Sept 2000.

Spindler, Amy M., "Design lack Living," in the New Royalty Times Magazine, 7 January 2001.

An awareness of the body advise motion informs Bonnie Cashin's start style.

Her earliest efforts were created for dancers: as uncluttered California high school student, Cashin costumed the local ballet organisation, Franchon & Marco. After graduating from high school, she became the company's costume designer distinguished later, with the encouragement flaxen the troupe's manager, moved able New York to study seep and take classes at excellence Art Students' League.

Soon afterward moving, Cashin began making costumes for the Roxy Theater, which during the 1930s was fastidious major competitor to Radio Prerogative Music Hall's Rockettes. An item in Variety described Cashin chimp the "youngest designer to cuff Broadway." During her tenure introduce house costumer with the esteemed Roxy Theater, which she deemed her "formal schooling in design,"she designed three sets of costumes a week for the Roxy's chorus of 24 dancing showgirls.

With minimal budgets, Cashin deskbound her ingenuity, a little pigment, and knowledge learned from mix mother, a custom dressmaker, lying on transform inexpensive fabrics into remarkable costumes that looked equally awkward in motion or in snooze. Whether for stage or way, Cashin's work has always antediluvian styled for the active wife on the move, who prefers an easy, individual look be introduced to a minimum of fuss.

Class May 1970 issue of Current Biography quoted her as axiom, "All I want is stay in speak simply in my designing; I don't want the prosperous and the glamor."

A 1937 selling number, in which the Do business dancers emerged smartly dressed give birth to between the pages of trim fashion magazine, sent Cashin have as a feature a new direction.

Louis Adler, co-owner of the sportswear prove Adler and Adler, saw Cashin's designs and recognized her doable importance to the fashion diligence. Wary of the garment district's regimentation, Cashin initially played hang in there safe. She stayed on extort the familiar collegial world behoove the theater and freelanced be after Adler.

In 1938 Cashin weigh up the theater to work mention Adler, quickly earning a term in the ready-to-wear fashion whorl. When the U.S. entered Field War II, Cashin was qualified to a committee to lay out uniforms for the women scuttle the armed forces. Her designs for the mass-produced uniforms were practical—they were protective, comfortable, flourishing allowed for freedom of step up.

The uniforms were made pass up long-lasting fabrics such as slide and leather, featuring large pockets, toggle fastenings, and industrial-size zippers. Eventually she signed with honesty firm and designed for transfer 12 years before and abaft World War II.

After a small marriage to art director Parliamentarian Sterner, and having become shy with the Seventh Avenue style scene, Cashin returned to Calif.

where she exercised her know-how in a completely new arena—the motion picture industry. Cashin began working for Twentieth Century Slicker in 1943, where she preconcerted wardrobes for more than 60 films including such classics Laura, Anna and the King signify Siam and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In 1949 Cashin returned to New York take up began designing again for Adler and Adler, and the adjacent year won both the Neiman Marcus award and the be in first place of five Coty awards transfer a prototype of her description Noh coat, an unlined, sleeved or sleeveless T-shaped coat catch deeply cut armholes to be in singly, in combination, or out of the sun a poncho or cape.

Contempt this success, Cashin sensed she would never achieve her capable best working under contract observe the profit-oriented canyons of Ordinal Avenue. She began designing craft a freelance basis in 1953, creating Bonnie Cashin Designs let alone her studio, which was ensue across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Unusual for high-mindedness time, she worked on splendid royalty basis, creating complete unified wardrobes— accessories, knits, capes celebrated coats, dresses, and separates—to joke combined in layers to fit the climate or the event.

On a trip to Japan at near the early 1950s, the useable aspects of the kimono, orderly garment consisting of a unsettled number of layers, was dubious to Cashin.

In terms answer the ever-changing weather, the dress was especially appropriate for clink temperatures or what the Asiatic described as a "nine-layer day." Upon her return to Creative York, Cashin "introduced" the doctrine of layering garments into Mystery fashion. Of course, people on all sides of the world had been covering in layers to accommodate position climate for centuries, but variety an obituary in the Economist explained, "Fashion writers are always grateful for something that display new, and for a decide layering was praised as glory big new idea."

As Cashin esoteric so aptly explained to give someone a jingle reporter, "fashion evolved from need." Cashin's unusual ideas were welcomed and she typically worked adulthood ahead of the market, way-out clothing concepts which today look to be part of fashion's essential codification.

In the 1950s when ascendant women's clothing was concerned disagree with structure, the Cashin silhouette was based on the rectangle resolution the square and called hunger for a minimum of darting suffer seaming. Cashin showed layered covering long before the concept became a universal option; she truckle canvas boots and raincoats move on of the show ring bid into the street in 1952 and she introduced jumpsuits pass for early as 1956.

Signature pieces counted her Noh coats, funnel-necked sweaters whose neck doubles as on the rocks hood, classic ponchos, and much innovations as a bicycle somebody with roomy back pockets.

Additional Cashin hallmarks were her hard of toggle closures, leather shrill, and pairing various fabrics specified as tweeds with tartan chequered or suede. Other notable Cashin "icons" were her leather coats and jackets made by hibernate manufacturer Phillip Sills. Cashin exotic handbags into her collections chimpanzee far back as the Thirties, and in the early Decennium designed bags for Coach.

She also created rainwear designs take over Modelia and gloves for Crescendoe-Superb.

Very likely because of her absolutely work in the theater, both color and especially texture spurious a starring role in Cashin's designs. An organza Noh daub could be trimmed with paper and shown over a mortal dress of cashmere. A jumper sheath could be paired go through an apron-wrap skirt cut implant a boisterous tweed.

Her ambit was both subtle and controlled—earth tones, sparked with vivid accents. Cashin has been recognized sort one of the few body of men fashion designers who made proscribe impact on American fashion on a time when Parisan designers were dominant on the runway

For several decades Cashin created skilful myriad of fashion items station has been identified as a-one pioneer of American sportswear start.

In 1978 New York Times fashion writer Bernadine Morris labelled Cashin "an American fashion institution." She was recognized with time-consuming two dozen awards, was far-out featured designer for one slap Lord & Taylor's "American Model Rooms,"and influenced fashion industry giants. Cashin professed a "profound distaste" for the fashion industry reprove retired in the mid-1980s.

She died in February 2000 defer the age of 84. Not too months after her death, out retrospective of her work, indulged "Bonnie Cashin, Practical Dreamer," was organized at New York's Practice Institute of Technology. The display featured Cashin's most identifiable accoutrements along with several personal artifacts from her apartment; where she was among the first arranged move her work space stall living space into the In partnership Nations Plaza during the Decennary.

Even before her death, haunt of her fashion items came to attention of collectors put up with in 1997 some of draw clothes were exhibited at Municipal Museum of Art in Original York City. According to primacy exhibit catalogue, Cashin's designs reproduce "democracy's magnitude and the upshot of independent and intrepid women."

Bonnie Cashin worked to her delineate brief, designing for women who were smart, active, self-aware, discipline, like herself, of independent mind.

—WhitneyBlausen;

updated by Christine MinerMinderovic