Thomas Franklin Brigance (February 4, 1913 – October 14, 1990) was a Texan-born New York-based fashion designer noted for his work in

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. As a house designer for

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

, Brigance was best known for bathing costumes and play clothes, and for his clever use of flattering details such as pleats and darts. During the 1930s Brigance was a rare example of a male working in the female-dominated world of American sportswear design. In the late 1930s, he was regularly mentioned alongside

Clare Potter Clare Potter was a fashion designer who was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1903. In the 1930s she was one of the first American fashion designers to be promoted as an individual design talent. Working under her elided name Clarepotter, she h ...

as a leading name in mid-range priced sportswear. Like Potter, Brigance was skilled at designing smart, fashionable clothing which could easily be mass-produced, making his work attractive to manufacturers as well as to customers. After serving in the Army during

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Brigance resumed designing for Lord & Taylor and for Charles W. Nudelman; branching out into a wider range of garments, including suits, coats, and formal wear. He was known for his clever use of unusually textured and/or unexpected fabrics, such as a

flannel Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, ...

swimsuit, and in 1953, reportedly designed over half of the textiles in his collections himself. In 1953 Brigance was awarded the Coty Award for his designs. Brigance continued designing during the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on swimwear for various companies. One of his swimsuit designs for Gabar, produced before his retirement in the late 1970s, was still a best-selling design for the company in 1990. He died in New York in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigance, Tom 1913 births 1990 deaths American fashion designers People from Waco, Texas American textile designers

External links

Tom Brigance collection, 1930s-1960s (bulk 1960-1978)
from The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library at The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.