Nancy Melcher Diemand (1916-2015) was a fashion designer specializing in

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, fashio ...

. In 1950, she became the first underwear designer to win a

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 ...

Biography

Melcher was the daughter of the publisher

Frederic G. Melcher Frederic Gershom Melcher (April 12, 1879 – March 9, 1963) was an American publisher, bookseller, editor, and a major contributor to the library science field and book industry. He is particularly known for his contributions to the children's b ...

and his wife, children's author Marguerite Fellows Melcher. She was born 21 January 1916 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

. She studied at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

, and the McDowell School for Costume Design in New York. In 1942, she married John Anthony "Buzz" Diemand Jr., and the couple lived in

Buckingham, Pennsylvania Buckingham is an unincorporated community in Buckingham Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Buckingham is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 202, Pennsylvania Route 263, and Pennsylvania Route 413 Pennsylvania Route 41 ...

. The marriage lasted until his death in 1992.

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

was one of Melcher's favorite pastimes, although she also studied watercolor painting and pursued many different handicrafts, from pottery to quilting to carpentry. After her husband's death, Melchard volunteered at the

Porter Hospital Porter Medical Center, also known as Porter Hospital, is a 45-bed critical access hospital located in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded by banker William Henry Porter to serve as a dual community hospital and infirmary to nearby Middlebury College, th ...

cafeteria and other local charitable establishments. She died at the age of 99 in the Eastview nursing home, Middlebury, Vermont, on 28 March 2015, and was survived by her son and daughter.

Fashion designer

Melcher joined the firm Vanity Fair in 1937 as a designer. Her work, in conjunction with clever advertising, helped make the firm famous and successful. In 1939, she patented a design for a combined corset and brassiere for Vanity Fair, which was approved in 1941. She was particularly known for her use of nylon, a synthetic fiber invented and produced by

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

, who stated in 1950 that Vanity Fair was the first firm to commercially produce heat-set, permanently-pleated nylon lingerie. Melcher won a Special

in 1950, making her the first underwear designer to be so recognized. The award-givers particularly noted her use of nylon tricot as original and having "brought new excitement and beauty to traditional and highly functional lingerie fashions."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melcher, Nancy 1916 births 2015 deaths American fashion designers American women fashion designers Smith College alumni Williams College alumni People from Indianapolis People from Middlebury, Vermont 20th-century American women