John Kloss, born as John Klosowski (13 June 1937 – 25 March 1987) was an American fashion designer, known for his modern

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fash ...

and sleepwear designs.

History

John Klosowski was born 13 June 1937 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. He studied at

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a public high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States.

, learning about architecture. He moved to New York City and studied at

Traphagen School of Fashion Traphagen School of Fashion was an art and design school in operation from 1923 to 1991, and was located at 1680 Broadway in New York City. The school was founded and directed by Ethel Traphagen Leigh (1883–1963) with a focus on the foundational ...

, graduating in 1958 in Costume Design. After briefly living in Paris, in 1963 he moved back to New York City and opened a custom dressmaking business.

Henri Bendel Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York Ci ...

, a women's accessories store based in New York City was credited with discovering John Kloss and providing him with early work. His dresses in the 1960s were unconstructed

jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

and crepe fabric, but worn tight to show the body shape. By the 1970s his dresses were more loose in shape. Kloss received two Coty Awards, in 1971 and 1974, for his lingerie designs. His 1970s line of bras had an impact on the lingerie industry, ''John Kloss Glossies'' made by Lily of France, came in five bold colors, seamless, minimal, but still an underwired bra - for a braless-look. He died at the age of 49 on 25 March 1987 in his home in Stamford, Connecticut from a

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

-related suicide. According to the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, "Mr. Kloss had been under severe pressure because of tax problems in recent years, according to business associates." Kloss' work is found in many public museum collections including at 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 ...

(The Met),

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kloss, John 1937 births 1987 deaths American fashion designers Traphagen School of Fashion alumni Cass Technical High School alumni People from Detroit Lingerie brands American people of Polish descent 1987 suicides Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning Suicides in Connecticut