Bill Blass

William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 – June 12, 2002) was an American fashion designer, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[1][2] He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999).[1]

Bill Blass
Born
William Ralph Blass

(1922-06-22)June 22, 1922
Fort Wayne, Indiana
DiedJune 12, 2002(2002-06-12) (aged 79)
New Preston, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
EducationParsons School of Design
Label(s)
Bill Blass Limited
AwardsCoty Award seven times;[1] Fashion Institute of Technology Lifetime Achievement Award, 1999[1]

Early life

Blass was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of Ralph Aldrich Blass, a traveling hardware salesman, and his wife, Ethyl Keyser Blass.[3]

In his autobiography, Blass wrote that the margins in his school books were filled with sketches of 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 up enough money to move to Manhattan and study fashion, and, at eighteen, he was the first male to win Mademoiselle'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. Due to his intelligence and talent, he was assigned to the 603rd Camouflage Battalion whose mission was to fool the German Army into believing the Allies 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, and the Rhine River crossing.[3]

Fashion career

Blass began his New York fashion career in 1945.[1][2] He was a protégé of Baron de Gunzburg.[4] 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.[1][2]

Over the next 30 years he expanded his line to include swimwear, furs, luggage, perfume, and chocolate. In 1967, he was the first American couture fashion designer to start a men’s wear 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.[3]

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.[3]

His clients, many of whom were also his friends, included Happy Rockefeller, Brooke Astor, Nancy Kissinger, Jessye Norman, Gloria Vanderbilt and Patricia Buckley.[3]

The Bill Blass Edition Continental Mark series

Beginning in 1976, and continuing until 1992, Blass lent his talents to the Ford Motor Company for an edition of their Continental Mark series of automobiles. In 1976, he shared model configurations with Emilio Pucci, Hubert de Givenchy, and Cartier. 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.[3]

New York Public Library

In 1994, Blass gave $10 million to the New York Public Library. In recognition of the gift, the Public Catalog Room of the New York Public Library Main Branch at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street was named the Bill Blass Public Catalogue Room.[5]

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. Blass was diagnosed with oral/tongue cancer in 2000,[6] not long after he began writing his memoir.[7] His cancer later developed into throat cancer, resulting in his death on June 12, 2002, ten days away from his 80th birthday.[2][6]

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.[8][9]

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."[6]

"The secret of living is not staying too long. I have learned when to leave the party."[10]

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)
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See also

References
  1. "Bill Blass Biography". Biography.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  2. "Bill Bass Bio". FMD. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  3. Nemy, Enid (2002-06-13). "Bill Blass, Whose Clothes Gave Casual an Elegant Air, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  4. Dupont Ronald J, Jr. (1991). "Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg". The Vernon Stories of Jacobus Van Brug. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  5. Grimes, William (1994-01-13). "Bill Blass Gives $10 Million to Library". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  6. "Bill Blass". The Oral Cancer Foundation. Archived from the original on 2014-07-10. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  7. Bare Blass book review Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine from Look Online.
  8. Mead, Rebecca (2007-04-09). "Den of Antiquity: the Met Defends its Treasures". The New Yorker: 54–61.
  9. de Montebello, Philippe; Emily K Rafferty (2006). "Report from the Director and President" (PDF). Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  10. Horwell, Veronica (2002-06-15). "Obituary: Bill Blass". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
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