Beth Levine (December 31, 1914 – September 20, 2006) was an American

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

most known for her designs from the 1940s through the 1970s. Under the

Herbert Levine label Herbert Levine is an American luxury shoe label founded in 1948 by Herbert Levine and his wife Beth. Label history Background The Herbert Levine label was named after former journalist Herbert. His wife, Beth, was the primary shoe designer of the ...

, bearing the name of her husband,

Herbert Levine Herbert Levine (April 19, 1916 – August 8, 1991) was an American fashion executive active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Together with his fashion designer wife, Beth Levine, he led the fashion accessory Herbert Levine label bearing his nam ...

, Beth was the best-known American women's shoe designer from the 1950s to the early 1970s, and was called "America's First Lady of Shoe Design" until her death in 2006.

Beginnings

She was born as Elizabeth Katz in

Patchogue, New York Patchogue (, ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the Town (New York), town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven, on ...

, the third of five children of Anna and Israel Katz,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n Jewish emigrants who operated a dairy farm. In the 1930s, she moved to Manhattan and found work as a shoe model, then worked her way up from a stylist to head designer for I. Miller. She served as a Red Cross volunteer during World War II.

Design career

Beth met

when she applied for a job designing shoes for another shoe manufacturer in 1944, and married him three months later. In 1948, they founded together the

. Beth Levine's greatest influence is considered to be the re-introduction of

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is cle ...

s to women's

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

in the 1960s and the popularization of the shoe style known as

mules A mule is the offspring of a female horse and a male donkey. Mule, Mules, MULE or The Mule can also refer to: Animals * Mule (sheep), in British sheep farming, a cross between a meat ram and a hardy mountain ewe * Mule deer (''Odocoileus hemio ...

. When Nancy Sinatra wore Levine boots in publicity shots for the 1960s hit song " These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", demand for fashion boots leaped so much that Saks Fifth Avenue opened a special section its shoe department called "Beth's Bootery". Levine was hired in 1965, along with famed couturier Emilio Pucci and designer Alexander Girard, to help overhaul a new look and style for

Braniff International Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

. The campaign, developed by Jack Tinker and Partner's Mary Wells Lawrence, was dubbed The End Of The Plain Plane, and was a revolutionary airline overhaul, which had never been attempted. Levine designed the unique shoes that complemented the Pucci uniform designs.

Innovations

Fashion innovations introduced by Beth Levine for the

include boots as

Haute Couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

, "Spring-o-lator"

(where an elastic strip allowed the wearer to keep the shoes securely on while wearing stockings despite the lack of any straps at the side or back of the shoes), stocking boots (pantyhose with heels attached, as well as boots made from materials like vinyl and acrylic) and clear plastic shoes. Beth was an early feminist in the fashion industry.

Awards

Beth Levine was awarded the

Coty Award The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (awarded 1943–1984) were created in 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. In 1985, the Coty Awa ...

in 1967 for design innovation.

Collections

Beth's designs are included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Death

Beth Levine died in Manhattan of lung cancer on September 20, 2006, aged 91, survived by a daughter, Anna Thomson-Wilson, also of Manhattan, and grandsons H Hugo Thomson and William Davidson Thomson 3rd.

References

External links

Beth Levine Shoes historical website
*

Braniff Flying Colors historical page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Beth 1914 births 2006 deaths American fashion businesspeople American fashion designers American women fashion designers American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Deaths from lung cancer People from Manhattan People from Patchogue, New York Shoe designers 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 21st-century American women