William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 – June 12, 2002) 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 ...
.
He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven
Coty Awards
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 ...
and the
Fashion Institute of Technology
The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...
's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999).
Early life
Blass was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of Ralph Aldrich Blass, a traveling hardware
sales
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...
man, and his wife, Ethyl (Keyser) Blass.
In his autobiography, Blass wrote that the margins in his school books were filled with sketches of
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
-inspired fashions instead of notes. At fifteen, he began sewing and selling
evening gowns for $25 each to a New York manufacturer. At seventeen he had saved enough money to move to
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and study fashion. At eighteen, he was the first male to win ''
Mademoiselle
Mademoiselle (abbreviated as ''Mlle'' or ''M'') may refer to:
* Mademoiselle (title), the French-language equivalent of the title "miss"
Film and television
* ''Mademoiselle'' (1966 film), a French-British drama directed by Tony Richardson
* '' ...
''
's Design for Living award. He spent his salary of $30 a week on clothing, shoes and elegant meals.
In 1943, Blass enlisted in the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
. Due to his intelligence and talent, he was assigned to the
603rd Camouflage Battalion. Its mission was to deceive the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
into believing the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
were positioned in fake locations, for example by using
dummy tanks.
He served in this unit at several major operations including the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...
, and the
Rhine River crossing.
Fashion career
After the war, Blass returned to New York, and was promptly hired as Anne Klein's assistant. However, he was soon fired; allegedly, Anne told him that while he had good manners, he had no talent.
He was a protégé of
Baron de Gunzburg. In 1970, after two decades of success in menswear and womenswear, he bought Maurice Rentner Ltd., which he had joined in 1959, and renamed it
Bill Blass Limited
Bill Blass Group replaces what was formerly Bill Blass Limited, a fashion house founded by American designer Bill Blass.
Bill Blass Limited
Designer Bill Blass began designing for Anna Miller in 1959, and his name began appearing on the label st ...
.
Over the next 30 years he expanded his line to include
swimwear
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, wom ...
,
fur
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
s,
luggage,
perfume
Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...
, and
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
. In 1967, he was the first American couture fashion designer to start a menswear line. That part of his business grew to offer everything from ties, socks and belts to suits and evening clothes. It was made by 18 licensees.
Like many designers, his women's-couture collections lost money but served to promote other parts of his business. By the mid-1990s, his ready-to-wear business grossed about $9 million annually and his 97 licensing agreements had retail sales of more than $700 million a year.
His clients, many of whom were also his friends, included
Happy Rockefeller,
Brooke Astor,
Nancy Kissinger
Nancy Sharon Kissinger (née Maginnes; born April 13, 1934) is an American philanthropist and socialite, and the wife of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The couple married on March 30, 1974, in Arlington, Virginia.
Life and career ...
,
Jessye Norman,
Gloria Vanderbilt
Gloria Laura Vanderbilt (February 20, 1924 – June 17, 2019) was an American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite.
During the 1930s, she was the subject of a high-profile child custody trial in which her mother ...
and
Patricia Buckley
Patricia Aldyen Austin Taylor Buckley (July 1, 1926 – April 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American socialite, noted for her fundraising activities. She was the wife of conservative writer and activist William F. Buckley Jr. and the mother of write ...
.
Design style
Blass is largely credited with creating the relaxed, elegant look that American fashion favored in the late 20th century. In a time period where international attention was solely focused on French fashion, Blass was able to create designs that would eventually shift the focus onto American fashion as well. Inspired by European fashion designers like Coco Chanel, Blass modernized womenswear by allowing them comfort while still maintaining a sense of glamour; he would create designs typical of sportswear, but create them using luxurious fabrics. His signature style consisted of feminine ruffles, luxury materials such as mink or cashmere, and sharply-cut, simple silhouettes.
Blass's looks would incorporate Golden Age Hollywood's glamour with sportswear, taking sportswear silhouettes, and creating them with luxurious materials such as mink, silk, and cashmere, or blending pieces traditionally found in sportswear with dramatic ball skirts. Blass was the first American to incorporate fabrics traditionally only found in menswear, such as pinstripes and houndstooth, into womenswear. His clothing was always very wearable, a characteristic that set him apart from his contemporaries, as most of them were focused on creating fantastical clothes.
Advertisements
Blass was one of the first designers bold enough and recognizable enough to star in his own advertisements. In one such campaign launched during the 1960
's, Blass was pictured alongside two models wielding machine guns. Text proclaiming "They can't knock off Bill Blass" was emblazoned across the image. Employing witty slogans such as ''Positively Blassphemous", Bill Blass became a celebrity in his own right.
Versailles 1973
During November 1973, at the Palace of Versailles, five American fashion designers, one of whom was Bill Blass, faced off against five French designers who were at the time considered to be the best of the best – Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Emanuel Ungaro, Pierre Cardin, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior – in a battle of fashion shows. The event is often credited as the event that put American fashion in the international spotlight.
The Bill Blass Edition Continental Mark series
Beginning in 1975, and continuing until 1992, Blass lent his talents to the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
for an edition of their
Continental Mark series of automobiles. In 1976, he shared model configurations with
Emilio Pucci
Don Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento (; 20 November 1914 – 29 November 1992) was an Italian aristocrat, fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colors.
Early l ...
,
Hubert de Givenchy, and
Cartier Cartier may refer to:
People
* Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player
Places
* Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australia' ...
. Each year, as goes true fashion, the interior and exterior color combinations would be updated. One of the most popular was the 1979 edition honoring a nautical theme, as did the Blass logo of the time. Small anchors were incorporated into the exterior accent striping and interior accents within the Blass "back-to-back B" design theme. The 1979 through 1983 Mark series Blass models were available with a "carriage roof" giving a convertible top look to the cars. After 1983, the Bill Blass edition became a color option with rear quarter window model designations and a few features that were options on the standard model.
Awards and recognition
Over the years, Blass won three
Coty American Fashion Critics Awards. He won the 1968 Coty for men's wear. The
Council of Fashion Designers of American awarded Blass their Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and was the group's first winner of their Humanitarian Leadership Award in 1996. He was also named to the
International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame List.
New York Public Library
In 1994, Blass gave $10 million to the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
. In recognition of the gift, the Public Catalog Room of the
New York Public Library Main Branch
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, commonly known as the Main Branch, 42nd Street Library or the New York Public Library, is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. T ...
at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street was named the Bill Blass Public Catalogue Room.
Retirement and death
In 1999, Blass sold Bill Blass Limited for $50 million to
Michael Groveman and retired to his home in
New Preston, Connecticut
New Preston is a rural village and census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of the town of Washington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the New Preston CDP was 1,182, out of 3,5 ...
. Blass, longtime a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with oral/tongue cancer in 2000,
not long after he began writing his memoir. His cancer later developed into throat cancer, resulting in his death on June 12, 2002, ten days away from his 80th birthday.
Blass collected art and was a connoisseur of
antiquities and in his will bequeathed half of his $52 million estate, as well as several important ancient sculptures, to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
.
Quote
"The beauty of being able to draw, or paint, from an early age is that you never feel trapped, least of all by your immediate circumstances."
"The secret of living is not staying too long. I have learned when to leave the party."
“When in doubt, wear red.”
“Fashion can be bought by anybody; style takes discernment, it has to do with individuality.”
“Sometimes the eye gets so accustomed that if you don't have a change, you're bored. It's the same with fashion, you know. And that, I suppose, is what style is about.”
“Simplicity is the soul of modern elegance.”
Publications
* ''Dining in Manhattan Cookbook: A Collection of Gourmet Recipes for Complete Meals from Manhattan's Finest Restaurants'', with Joan G. Hauser (1983)
* ''Bare Blass'', edited by
Cathy Horyn (2002)
See also
*
Bill Blass Group
References
External links
Official websiteof
Bill Blass Group
*
*
American Ingenuity: Sportswear 1930s-1970s an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Bill Blass (see index)
Bill Blassat the
Ghost Army
The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. The 1100-man unit was given a unique mission: to deceive Hitler's forces and mislead them as to the ...
Legacy Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blass, Bill (Designer)
1922 births
2002 deaths
American fashion designers
Artists from Fort Wayne, Indiana
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in Connecticut
United States Army personnel of World War II
United States Army soldiers
People from New Preston, Connecticut