Tina Leser (December 12, 1910 – January 23, 1986) was an American fashion designer. Part of a generation of pioneering sportswear designers, Leser was particularly known for her global influences.

Personal life

Tina Leser was born Christine Buffington. Her birth parents were Mary Edith Cox and Charles Buffington. Cox arranged Leser's adoption by her cousin Georgine after she and her husband, Charles Shillard-Smith, spent months wintering in California. Her name became Christine Wetherill Shillard-Smith in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She studied art at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Leser made her

debut Debut or début (the first public appearance of a person or thing) may refer to: * Debut (society), the formal introduction of young upper-class women to society * Debut novel, an author's first published novel Film and television * ''The Debu ...

in Philadelphia in 1929. Tina married marine biologist Curtis Leser in November 1931 and the couple moved to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, where Curtis worked for the Academy of Science. Tina took up spearfishing and diving with Hawaiian locals. In 1936, the Lesers divorced, but Tina decided to keep Leser as her professional for the remainder of her career. In 1948, Tina Leser married James J. Howley (1920-2012). The couple had one daughter. In 1949, Leser and Howley took a round the world honeymoon that helped to develop Leser's international aesthetic. In 1982, the Long Island home of Leser and Howey was burglarized. Two million dollars worth of art and silver were stolen, including a Picasso and a Monet. The thieves were caught. Leser's mother, Georgine Shillard-Smith, founded the Gulf Coast Art Center. Leser was president of the organization from 1952 to 1954. The Gulf Coast Art Center closed in 2009.

Career

Leser opened a speciality store in

in 1935 called Tina Leser Gowns, located across the street from the

Royal Hawaiian Hotel The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is a beachfront luxury hotel located in Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. It is part of The Luxury Collection brand of Marriott International. One of the first hotels established in Waikiki, the Royal ...

. Until it closed in 1942, the store sold resort wear, primarily playsuits and coverups, designed by Leser that she created with the help of a French

dressmaker A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and gown, evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua (clothing), mantua-makers, and are also known as a mod ...

. Fabrics used included sailcloth, Hawaiian and Filipino fabrics. Her client base included celebrities as The Dolly Sisters and

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...

. The exposition allowed to sell her designs to department stores

Bonwit Teller Bonwit Teller & Co. was an American luxury department store in New York City, New York, founded by Paul Bonwit in 1895 at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, and later a chain of department stores. In 1897, Edmund D. Teller was admitted to the p ...

and

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

. After the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

, she was required to close the shop and leave the island. Encouraged by

Edna Woolman Chase Edna Woolman Chase (; March 14, 1877 — March 21, 1957) was an American who served as editor-in-chief of ''Vogue'' magazine from 1914 to 1952. Early life Chase was born on March 14, 1877 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Fra ...

and

Carmel Snow Carmel Snow, born Carmel White (21 August 1887 – 7 May 1961), was the editor-in-chief of the American edition of ''Harper's Bazaar'' from 1934 to 1958; and the chair of the magazine's editorial board. She was famously quoted as saying, "E ...

, Leser met with buyers at

who purchased 500 playsuits from Leser. Leser briefly ran her own company in New York from 1941 to 1943. Her 1941 collections included Hawaiian palaka fabric, hand painted fabric, and menswear. At that time, her business was headquartered at 1 West 47th Street in Manhattan. A 1941 article describes her salon as having "hand-painted satin drapes and sea-shell chairs." From 1942 to 1952, Leser designed for the Edwin H. Foreman sportswear company. While working with Edwin H. Foreman, Leser introduced

harem pants Harem pants or harem trousers are baggy, long pants caught in at the ankle. Early on, the style was also called a harem skirt. The original so-called 'harem pants/skirts' were introduced to Western fashion by designers such as Paul Poiret around 1 ...

, dhoti pants, and toreador pants as "at home" clothing for American women. In 1952, Lesser again founded her own company, Tina Leser Inc., which she headed until her retirement in 1964. The headquarters were at 550 7th Avenue in Manhattan. During this phase in her career, Leser promoted hand painted Hawaiian print, sarong-type play clothes, and cashmere dresses. From 1949 to 1953, Leser organized the Tina Leser prize for Japanese designers. Leser's celebrity clients included

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career a ...

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

, and

Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired film and television actress and painter. Novak began her career in 1954 after signing with Columbia Pictures and quickly became one of Hollywood's top box office stars, ...

. Leser designed costumes for the 1950 film '' Born to be Bad''. Star

said "the only acceptable art of the film was my wardrobe designed by Tina Leser." Leser also designed the costumes for the 1946 Broadway musical ''

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

''. Tina Leser died on January 23, 1986.

Legacy

Liz Claiborne Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was an American fashion designer and businesswoman. Her success was built upon stylish yet affordable apparel for career women featuring colorfully tailored separates that co ...

's began her career as a model and sketch artist for Tina Leser. From Leser, Clairborne learned "that being a designer meant hard, long, interminably long hours of work..." Tina Leser's work is held by 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 ...

, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of ...

, and

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

Museum,

Awards

Neiman Marcus Fashion Award The Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was a yearly award created in 1938 by Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus. Unlike the Coty Award, it was not limited to American-based fashion designers. Recipients of t ...

, 1945 *

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 ...

, 1945 * Outstanding Designer,

Philadelphia Museum School of Art The Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (PMSIA), also referred to as the School of Applied Art, was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on February 26, 1876, as both a museum and teaching institution. This was in response to t ...

, 1955 * Sportswear Design Award, ''Sports Illustrated'', 1956

References

External links

"Doves," Metropolitan Museum of ArtBeach cover-up, Metropolitan Museum of ArtEvening ensemble, Metropolitan Museum of ArtWoman's swimsuit, Museum of Fine Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leser, Tina 1910 births 1986 deaths American fashion designers American women fashion designers Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni 20th-century American women