OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PORTRAIT

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy

Official White House Portrait

Dress by Sybil Connolly

ON MERRION SQUARE WITH SYBIL CONNOLLY

Irish Designer Sybil Connolly

While in Ireland, Miss Lambert would stay with her old friend and client Sybil Connolly at her mansion on Merrion Square, the most stylish area of Dublin.

Sybil Connolly was an amazing fashion designer and product designer who created the linen dress that Jacqueline Kennedy wore in her White House portrait and who elevated Irish style to high fashion...

More to come on Sybill Connolly...

LILLY DACHE

Lilly Daché, Lulu's Vintage

Lilly Daché was the most famous milliner in the United States during her time.

She was born in France and worked as a milliner and fashion designer, in 1924, she moved to New York City and opened her own business.

Daché is reported to have said,

"Glamour is what makes a man ask for your telephone number. But it also is what makes a woman ask for the name of your dressmaker."

To be continued…

THEY CAME FROM INDIANA... PART 4 NORELL

Norman Norell with models, 1959

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, gift of Toni Tavan

close-up of Norell's plum colored mermaid dress, Decades, Los Angeles

gown by Norman Norell, New York Public Library Archives

Norman Norell

Norman Norell, another talent from Indiana… Noblesville, Indiana.

Norman Norell, born Norman David Levinson in 1900, went to New York at the age of 19 to study painting. Working as a theatrical and movie costume designer for Paramount and Brooks Costume Company, he designed costumes for Rudolph Valentino and for Gloria Swanson. From 1924 to 1928, Norell worked for Charles Armour.

In 1932 he joined Hattie Carnegie, who was a client of… you guessed it.. Eleanor Lambert!

While working for Hattie Carnegie he adapted Paris design models for the American market. There he learned French couture techniques and how to change the Parisian proportions to fit the American body. After 12 years with her, he left to join Anthony Traina, where he also enlisted the help of his friend Eleanor Lambert to work her PR magic. The first Traina-Norell collection was very successful.

In 1943 Norman Norell won the very the first Coty American Fashion Critics Award. He won the award in again in 1951 and 1956. With the death of Traina, the firm was renamed Norman Norell. Jersey sequinned dresses (the Mermaid Dresses) were one of his hallmarks.

I remember at one Council of Fashion Designer of America Awards Ceremony in the 1990s, Lauren Bacall proclaiming Norman Norell and Halston as two of her top four greatest fashion influences, she said...

'"Norman Norell and Halston were two of the greatest American designers of all time... In fact, they were two of the greatest designers of all time!"

You can't argue with Lauren Bacall, I know I dont!

partial source: Smithsonian Archives

THEY CAME FROM INDIANA... Part I HALSTON

A young Halston

"Halston of Bergdorf Goodman" with actress Anita Cobb 1965, photo by Ormond Gigli

photo of Halston in the 1970s by Andy Warhol

Harper's Bazaar editorial spread 1970s, photo by Bill King

Halston at his NYC townhouse, photo by Harry Benson

There are lots of successful people in the fashion business from all over the world, but it seems that there has been an inordinate amount of fashion talent from Indiana. Halston made his way to New York from Evansville, Indiana via Chicago.

Halston's first job in New York was working for the famous hat designer Lilly Dache, who happened to be a long-time client of Eleanor Lambert. Miss Lambert had an amazing eye for recognizing new talent... and soon she was promoting Halston too!

Halston won the first of numerous Coty Awards beginning in 1962. In the early 1960s he was the famous hat designer "Halston of Bergdorf Goodman" designing hats for Jackie Kennedy. In the 1970s, he reached the height of his fame and his designs helped to define the decade and American style. Bill Blass said it best:

"Halston was really the first American designer to make

an original statement,

particularly in a time when fashion

was so derivative of European designs,

it sounds corny,

but he was the quintessential American designer."

-Bill Blass

NEW YORK WAS HER CITY...

Photography by Karl Giant

I began this project because I have a passion for Eleanor Lambert. She had vision, tenacity and drive. She had an impeccable eye for talent. She loved new ideas and interesting people.

Her tireless work, not only in fashion, but in so many areas of our culture touches us daily. She created the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), organized fashion week, started the Coty Awards and The International Best Dressed List, she created the Costume Institute at the Met, the Costume Gala and of course she championed fashion designers, turning them into stars, superstars and some... legends. The list of her accomplishments goes on and on - keep logging on, because we are going to talk about all of it! But, it would be impossible to capture the essence of Miss Lambert without talking about the city as a central character in her life.

New York was her city, she knew it well and she loved it. It was her home for nearly 80 years. Forbes Magazine once said of Eleanor Lambert: "She treats New York like a small town." Indeed she did.

Miss Lambert spoke about her affection for New York just before her 100th birthday. ''Every idea gets a hearing in New York,'' said Miss Lambert, ''And if no one agrees with you, then you better get another idea.''

MAINBOCHER

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor on their wedding day.

Before she became the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson stayed with Eleanor Lambert in New York City and together they assembled Wallis' wedding trousseau. The Duchess ended up wearing a pale blue Mainbocher dress on her wedding day.

Mainbocher (pronounced "MaineBocker") is one of only two Americans who have shown couture in Paris under their own name (the other is Ralph Rucci). Mainbocher established his house in 1929, he successfully operated in Paris (1929-1939) and then in New York (1940-1971). I bet you'll never guess who did public relations for him?