On Monday, as part of the Parsons Festival, Professor Beth Dincuff, BFA Fashion History Instructor, presented a lecture – including Archive garments – on American designer and Parsons benefactor, Sophie Gimbel. Gimbel’s career began in 1929 as a stylist at Saks Fifth Avenue’s custom dress shop Salon Moderne; within two years she was director and [...]

Sacrament or sacrilege? Wearing a vintage Charles James on the red carpet is a risky venture. It is not the same as wearing vintage Valentino as Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts and the Jennifers (Garner, Lopez, etc.) have, or even vintage Balmain a la Penelope Cruz at the 2009 Oscars. It took a generous dose of [...]

That buttonhole. The hand sewn buttonhole; the mark of an exquisitely made garment. “No one does this kind of work anymore” my Mother pointed out to me when we went shopping for her clothes. “Norell, Norman Norell, made the most beautiful buttonholes. . . Not like this.” She would say as she held up an unfortunate [...]

Congratulations to the Julianelli family, for a long overdue publication honoring their family of shoe designers.  Mabel and Charles Julianelli were shoe designers who reached the top of their field in 1950, and still influences designers to this day. Some of their work is in the Parsons Archive Collection, and we are pleased to note [...]

   There has been a lot buzz surrounding renowned custom dressmaker Jessie Franklin Turner lately, what with her inclusion in the Costume Institute’s American Women exhibition as well as The Museum at FIT’s American Beauty, the many years deceased fashion maker is looking a bit like the Deb of the Year. Franklin Turner herself would have [...]

The name Sophie Gimbel should be familiar to anyone in the New School University community as it is Gimbel, together with her husband, Adam Gimbel, former president of Saks Fifth Avenue, whose names adorn the University’s Design Library. To the general public though, Gimbel’s name is not so recognizable, and her contributions to American fashion, [...]