Hubbry Logo
Anne FogartyAnne FogartyMain
Open search
Anne Fogarty
Community hub
Anne Fogarty
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Anne Fogarty
Anne Fogarty
Anne Fogarty
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Suzy Parker wearing Anne Fogarty, 1952

Key Information

Anne Fogarty (February 2, 1919 – January 15, 1980) was an American fashion designer, active 1940–1980, who was noted for her understated, ladylike designs that were accessible to American women on a limited income.[1] She started out as a model in New York in 1939, working for Harvey Berin on Seventh Avenue, before studying fashion design. She eventually secured a full-time design job in 1948, and became well known for full-skirted designs with fitted bodices, inspired by Dior's New Look.

Fogarty's clothes were easy to wear, practical, and made with casual fabrics, following the American sportswear tradition. She ran her own label from 1962 to 1974, and worked as a freelance designer until her death. In 1959, Fogarty published a style manual, Wife Dressing: The Fine Art of Being a Well-Dressed Wife, which emphasized femininity, neatness, and always being suitably dressed as desirable qualities.[2] Wife Dressing was rediscovered in the early 21st century, and has become a key resource for designers and fashion historians looking to explore the 1950s ideology of ultra-feminine dressing.

Early life

[edit]

Anne Fogarty was born in 1919 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Robert and Marion Whitney, who had immigrated in 1909 from Cape Town as part of a large Lithuanian Jewish community in South Africa who had apparently changed their names from Robert and Henrietta Gruskin, at the time of their immigration in 1908.[3][4] Her eldest sister, Lillian, would become better known as the food writer Poppy Cannon (who was married to the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Walter F. White), and Fogarty and Canon also had a sister and a brother born between the dates of their births.[1][4][5] Anne wore clothes handed down from her older sisters' cast-off clothing, which she remodeled to suit herself.[6] She graduated from high school and entered Allegheny College in 1936. The following year, she transferred to the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now part of Carnegie Mellon University) to study drama, as she wanted to be an actress. In 1939, after Poppy moved to New York City, Anne decided to follow her there.[6] While looking for acting work, she became a model for Harvey Berin, a Seventh Avenue-based womenswear manufacturer.[1] Berin recognized Anne's talent after seeing her responses to the clothes that his designers made using her as a model, and offered to subsidize her training to be a fashion designer.[7] Anne went to the East Hartman School of Design, although she paid her own way.[7]

After Harvey Berin, Anne worked as a model and designer for the Sheila Lynn company. In 1940, she married the artist Thomas E. Fogarty.[6] Although the marriage eventually ended in divorce, Anne retained his surname professionally. She modeled and worked as a stylist and publicist, including styling Rolls-Royce advertisements, until, in 1948, she secured a design job for Youth Guild, a new company that specialized in teenage fashion.[6][7]

Career

[edit]
Gold lace evening dress illustrating Fogarty's "paper doll" silhouette and worn by the designer to receive an award in Philadelphia, c. 1953[8] (PMA)

While at Youth Guild, Fogarty developed one of her signature looks, the tight-bodied dress with a very full skirt worn over a stiffened nylon petticoat, influenced by Dior's New Look.[9] As Fogarty was a junior size 7, with her small 22-inch waist and modeling experience, she was able to wear and show her own designs to advantage.[10][11] Some of her dresses were featured in a double-page spread in Harper's Bazaar.[6] In 1950, Fogarty was offered a design job at Margot Dresses, a company specializing in junior fashion.[6] She worked there for seven years, designing not just dresses, but accessories, lingerie and outerwear.[6] In 1957, Fogarty moved to Saks Fifth Avenue, where she was one of the main designers.[12] She launched her own firm, Anne Fogarty Inc., in 1962, and in the mid-1960s, launched several spin-off labels including A.F. Boutique, Collector's Items by Anne Fogarty, and Clothes Circuit.[12][13] She retired in 1974 and closed her business. Despite this, she worked up until her death as a free-lance designer, with her last collection created for Shariella Fashions in 1980.[12]

Fogarty did not follow the latest fashion fads, but focused on staple, stylish designs. She was a disciplined designer whose clothes were designed to be versatile and easy to wear.[14] Her designs were rarely trimmed as she focused instead on good cut and silhouette, and she favored casual fabrics such as flannel, velveteen, printed cotton, denim and linen, which appealed to a younger audience.[9][15] In 1954, she designed her first shirtdress, a combination of a masculine shirt extending into a full skirt worn over multiple petticoats. This became one of her favorite designs.[10] One of her most successful designs, a high-waisted dress with a full skirt and scooped neckline, has been described as the "Paper Doll" dress and was available in both day and evening versions.[6] However, the fashion historian Caroline Rennolds Milbank states that the "paper-doll" silhouette describes Fogarty's earliest full-skirted designs.[9] In the mid-1950s, in addition to her full-skirted designs, which always had separate crinoline petticoats for ease of movement and traveling, Fogarty developed new slimline designs such as the fitted sheath dress.[9] She is also credited with being one of the first American fashion designers to market the bikini.[6]

In 1960, Fogarty offered casual sportswear including dresses with removable waistcoats to alter their look, and coat-and-dress sets in boldly contrasting colors.[16] During the 1960s she produced A-line dresses and, after the miniskirt became established, designed peasant-inspired dresses in both mini- and maxi-lengths. Her new favorite silhouette, replacing full skirts, was the straight-skirted, high-waisted Empire line dress with tiny puff sleeves and low neckline.[13] Her designs in the later 1960s and 1970s became quite adventurous, including trouser suits and caftans.[13] In 1971 she designed midriff tops paired with wrap skirts, and knickerbockers paired with pinafores, alongside more conservative designs such as flounced maxi dresses and taffeta and satin shirtdresses.[7] She also offered hotpants ensembles with long skirts and ruffled blouses.[6]

Fogarty won a number of awards for her design work. In 1951 she was awarded a Merit Award from Mademoiselle magazine and a Bonwit Teller award, and received a special Coty Award for the "prettiest dresses".[6][17] The following year, Fogarty won a Neiman Marcus Fashion Award and received an award from the Philadelphia Fashion Group. In 1955 she received an honor from the International Silk Association and in 1957, won a Cotton Fashion Award.[6] Following the Cotton Fashion Award ceremony, a fashion show showing Fogarty's Summer collection for that year was held.[11] Called "Goldfish Safari," it presented cotton daywear, activewear, cocktail and evening wear in goldfish colors designed especially for travel and holiday wear.[11] At the time, Fogarty said of her work:

Everyone's on the move. And so they need clothes that look right anywhere in the world, pack well, and are easy to care for. But most of all, today's women want clothes that make them look their best. That's what I try to give them.[11]

Her clients included Tricia Nixon[15] and the journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen. Kilgallen's last public appearance, on a live network telecast of What's My Line? approximately four hours before her death, was in one of Fogarty's chiffon cocktail dresses.[18]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Fogarty had two children with her first husband, Tom Fogarty. They were married for 17 years. Tom Fogarty worked as an art teacher at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.[19][20] The marriage ended in divorce.

Dorothy Kilgallen's funeral, which occurred less than four days after she wore an original Fogarty dress on a live network telecast of What's My Line?, was attended by Fogarty.[21] In 1967, Fogarty married Kilgallen's widower, Richard Kollmar. According to a 1971 interview she did with the syndicated newspaper columnist Marian Christy, Kollmar broke his shoulder in an accident at home on New Year's Day 1971, which caused a blood clot to develop, and he died "a month later" on Anne's birthday,[7] which was February 2. The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers, however, ran obituaries for Kollmar on January 9 and 10 of that year.[22][23] The Washington Post reported on January 10 that Kollmar had "died in his sleep late Thursday [January 7]."[23]

Fogarty was married a third time in 1977, to Wade O'Hara, but this marriage ended in divorce.[24] On January 15, 1980, she died of a heart attack in her apartment in the high-rise building at 200 East 64th Street in Manhattan.[25][15] She is buried, not next to any of her husbands, at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[25]

Wife Dressing

[edit]

Wife Dressing: The Fine Art of being a Well-Dressed Wife was first published in 1959.[2][26] It is considered Fogarty's best known work.[27] In 2008, Rosemary Feitenberg (a writer for Women's Wear Daily) rediscovered the book and had it republished.[2][28] A facsimile reprint was issued in 2011 by the Victoria and Albert Museum.[29] This latter was enthusiastically reviewed by the Belfast Telegraph who declared it "prim, dated and anachronistic, but still a delight".[30]

Fogarty's principles continue to be cited by designers and historians such as Valerie Steele who has explained how they informed the costuming of Mad Men.[31] In reference to Fogarty and Wife Dressing, Steele had earlier stated that the 1950s "ideology of ultra-feminine fashion was most clearly defined by a woman."[32]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Anne Fogarty

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Anne Fogarty (February 2, 1919 – January 15, 1980) was an American designer best known for her feminine, ladylike dresses that embodied the youthful, lighthearted "American look" of the mid-20th century, particularly through her innovative use of full skirts, fitted bodices, and crinolines in the . Born Anne Whitney in , , Fogarty initially pursued , studying at (1936–1937) and the Carnegie Institute of Technology (1937–1938) before training in at the East Hartman School of Design in 1939. She began her career in New York as a and copywriter, transitioning to design roles at Sheila Lynn and Youth Guild from 1948 to 1950, where she developed her signature style of ultra-feminine, hourglass silhouettes. By 1950, she joined Margot Dresses Inc., creating accessible yet elegant pieces that appealed to young women, earning her the American Fashion Critics' Award in 1951 and the Award in 1952 for her contributions to . In 1957, Fogarty became the exclusive designer for , expanding her line to include coordinated ensembles and accessories until launching her own company, Anne Fogarty, Inc., in 1962, which operated successfully until 1974. Her designs evolved with the times, shifting from crinoline-supported skirts to straighter lines, dresses, and empire-waist styles in the , while introducing lines like A.F. Boutique and Collector's Items. Fogarty also authored the 1959 book Wife Dressing, offering advice on feminine attire to appeal to men, reflecting her views on women's roles amid ideals. After retiring, she continued freelance work until her death from a heart attack in at age 60.

Early life and education

Family background and childhood

Anne Whitney, who later became known as the fashion designer Anne Fogarty, was born on February 2, 1919, in , , to parents Robert Whitney and Marion Whitney. She grew up in a middle-class household as one of three daughters, with her eldest sister, Lillian—better known by her professional name —gaining recognition as a prominent food writer and editor. From an early age, Fogarty displayed an interest in clothing, often receiving hand-me-down garments from her older sisters that she would alter and sew to match her own vibrant and personal style preferences.

Education and early interests

Fogarty attended in , from 1936 to 1937, before transferring to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in , where she studied the following year. During her time at Carnegie, she discovered a particular fascination with the costumes used in theatrical productions, which ignited her creative interests beyond performance itself. In 1939, at the age of 20, Fogarty relocated to to chase her dream of an acting career, building on childhood aspirations nurtured within her family environment. She supported herself through odd jobs and brief theater auditions, navigating the competitive world of stage opportunities while living with her sister. That same year, Fogarty secured her initial position in the fashion industry as a model for Harvey Berin, a prominent designer on Seventh Avenue in the garment district. Berin recognized her talent and subsidized her training in at the East Hartman School of Design. This role, which involved fitting garments for junior miss collections, provided financial stability amid her acting pursuits and introduced her to the intricacies of clothing construction, gradually shifting her focus toward design.

Fashion career

Entry into the industry

Anne Fogarty entered the fashion industry through modeling, initially working as a for designer Harvey Berin in while pursuing opportunities. She then worked as both a model and designer for Sheila Lynn. Her marriage to artist Thomas E. Fogarty in 1940 influenced her professional adoption of the Fogarty surname, which she used throughout her career, and during this period she began creating early sketches and prototypes emphasizing bodice-accentuating designs. In 1948, Fogarty secured her first full design position as an assistant at Youth Guild, a company specializing in junior sportswear for teenagers, where she honed her skills in crafting fitted silhouettes inspired by the emerging "New Look" with narrow waists and full skirts. This role allowed her to experiment with youthful proportions and structured forms, laying the groundwork for her distinctive style. By 1950, Fogarty transitioned to Margot, Inc., another firm focused on junior fashion, where she designed her first major collection of day dresses that highlighted youthful, feminine lines through fitted bodices and voluminous skirts supported by crinolines. These pieces, often featuring the "paper-doll" silhouette, targeted active young women and marked a significant step in her development as a designer of accessible, flattering ready-to-wear apparel.

Launch and rise of her label

After establishing her reputation through innovative designs at Margot Dresses, Inc., where she created the influential "tea cozy" dress in 1954 featuring a fitted , full skirt, and that sold thousands and contributed to the "American Look," Fogarty became the exclusive designer for in 1957. There, she expanded her line to include coordinated ensembles and accessories until 1962. In 1962, she launched her own business, Anne Fogarty, Inc., on Seventh Avenue in with partner Leonard Sunshine. The company specialized in dresses for young women, priced between $20 and $50 to emphasize accessible elegance, building on her earlier commercial successes that included daily sales exceeding $5,000 at retailers like during her time at . Fogarty's label rapidly ascended in the , with annual collections showcased during New York fashion weeks and expansions into and ensembles that maintained her focus on feminine, youthful styles for the modern woman.

Signature designs and innovations

Anne Fogarty's signature "" dress, introduced in 1953, exemplified her innovative approach to versatile and youthful fashion, featuring a fitted , narrow waist, and full with interchangeable collars and cuffs that allowed wearers to customize the look for different occasions. These elements drew from her experience as a , where she honed an acute understanding of drape and body contouring to ensure precise, flattering fits for junior sizes and slender figures. Crafted from crisp cottons and emerging synthetics like , the design prioritized everyday wearability, making high-style silhouettes accessible beyond couture. Fogarty's emphasis on the hourglass silhouette further defined her aesthetic, with structured bodices, dramatically minimized waists—often cinched to 18 inches using layered crinolines—and voluminous full skirts that evoked Christian Dior's New Look of 1947 while adapting it for American practicality through lighter, more affordable fabrics such as printed cottons. This interpretation transformed the opulent French style into functional attire for the modern American woman, balancing femininity with ease of movement and cost-effectiveness.

Later career developments

Building on her 1950s foundations, Fogarty adapted to trends by incorporating mod influences, such as shorter hemlines and pantsuits in the A.F. line aimed at , while preserving feminine silhouettes like Empire waists and A-line shapes. By the 1970s, her collections shifted toward mature women's apparel, emphasizing flowing caftans and elegant evening gowns that reflected evolving preferences for comfort and sophistication. Fogarty maintained independence as a throughout the decade, producing lines like Collector's Items for department stores through freelance arrangements; despite industry challenges including the closure of Anne Fogarty, Inc. in 1974, she continued creating collections, with her final work for Shariella Fashion in 1980.

Personal life

Marriages and family

Anne Fogarty, born Anne Whitney, married painter Thomas E. Fogarty in 1940, adopting his surname professionally during their union. The couple had two children, a son named Thomas (often called Taf) and a named Melissa (known as Missy). They divorced sometime after the early , though specific details on the separation remain limited in public records. Following her first , Fogarty married actor and producer Richard T. Kollmar in 1967, with whom she shared a townhouse in . Kollmar passed away in 1971, leaving Fogarty widowed. In 1977, she entered her third marriage to Wade O'Hara, which ended in shortly thereafter. Fogarty balanced her demanding career with motherhood to her two children from her first marriage, though specific accounts of their involvement in her professional life, such as shows, are not well-documented. Her experiences as a wife and mother informed her philosophy on feminine style, as expressed in her 1959 book Wife-Dressing.

Health issues and death

In the late 1970s, Fogarty shifted to freelance design work following the closure of her own business around , marking a slowdown in her professional output. She died suddenly of a heart attack on January 15, 1980, at age 60 in her apartment at 200 East 64th Street in . The abrupt nature of her passing ended her ongoing contributions to just as she completed her final collection for Shariella Fashion earlier that year. The fashion industry responded with immediate tributes to her legacy of youthful, accessible designs. Designer di Montezemolo stated, "She changed the course of junior dressing," while Julia Meade recalled, "We all wore her clothes... She had a special flair." A funeral mass was held on January 18, 1980, at 10 A.M. at St. Vincent Ferrer Church on Lexington Avenue and 66th Street in . She was interred at in , New York.

Publications and legacy

Wife-Dressing

In 1959, Anne Fogarty published Wife-Dressing: The Fine Art of Being a Well-Dressed Wife through Julian Messner, Inc., offering a practical guide to feminine attire specifically for married women, with an emphasis on combining allure and everyday functionality to enhance domestic appeal. The book was reprinted in 2007 by Glitterati Incorporated with an updated introduction. The book's structure includes key chapters such as "Wife-Dressing," which establishes core principles of style for wives; "After the Trousseau, What?," detailing essential wardrobe building blocks like versatile dresses and accessories; and discussions on color coordination to create harmonious outfits, alongside advice on dressing to foster marital harmony, such as selecting attire that flatters without overwhelming spousal preferences. Throughout, Fogarty weaves in personal anecdotes from her marriage to Walter Fogarty and her professional design experiences, illustrating how personal style choices can strengthen relationships. Fogarty self-authored the text, incorporating black-and-white sketches—drawn from her own design expertise—to visually demonstrate outfit ideas and techniques, making the guidance accessible for non-experts. Aimed primarily at middle-class housewives navigating post-wedding wardrobes, the provided straightforward, non-elitist fashion counsel that resonated with its audience, achieving moderate sales upon release and helping shape the emerging field of fashion literature by prioritizing relatable, actionable insights over high-end trends.

Influence and recognition

Anne Fogarty played a pivotal role in popularizing the post-World War II "American Look," a style emphasizing youthful, practical, and feminine clothing for young women, characterized by fitted bodices, full skirts supported by petticoats, and casual fabrics like and denim. Her designs built on the sportswear tradition established by contemporaries such as , contributing to a distinctly American aesthetic that prioritized accessibility and everyday elegance over European . This approach democratized fashion, making sophisticated silhouettes available to a broader audience through junior lines and collaborations. In the 1970s, Fogarty expanded her repertoire with more experimental elements, incorporating trouser suits, caftans, and relaxed silhouettes that reflected evolving social norms and the shift toward casual professionalism in women's wardrobes. Her enduring influence extended to cultural representations, as her ultra-feminine shirtwaist dresses and petticoated styles embodied the idealized 1950s housewife aesthetic. Fogarty received significant recognition during her career, including the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award in 1951 for her "prettiest dresses," the Neiman Marcus Award in 1952, and the Cotton Council Award in 1957. Her garments have been honored in major institutions, with over 20 pieces from the 1950s to 1960s held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent collection, including notable examples like a holiday rayon dress from 1950–51 and an evening ensemble from 1962–63. In modern fashion histories, she is celebrated for advancing inclusive American design, with her styles experiencing renewed interest in vintage markets since the 1990s, where full-skirted dresses remain sought-after for their timeless appeal. Recent retrospectives highlight Fogarty's legacy, including a thesis examining her contributions from the to mid-1970s and digital archives like the Met's online collection, which preserve and contextualize her work for contemporary scholars.

References

  1. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Es-Fo/Fogarty-Anne.html
  2. https://vintagefashionguild.org/resources/item/label/fogarty-anne/
  3. https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/6017/
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/1980/01/16/archives/anne-fogarty-designer-of-american-look.html
  5. https://www.encyclopedia.com/fashion/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/fogarty-anne
  6. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/fogarty-anne-whitney
  7. https://www.ohsodelightful.com/who-was-anne-fogarty/
  8. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/174519
  9. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-Whitney-Fogarty
  10. https://unlimited.lsu.edu/textilemuseum/exhibitions/womenfashioningwomen.php
  11. https://britishretro.co.uk/anne-fogarty-housewives-fashion/
  12. http://fashionsfinest.fuzzylizzie.com/fogarty.html
  13. https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/23/archives/anne-fogarty-is-bride-of-richard-t-kollmar.html
  14. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106843156/anne-fogarty
  15. https://www.panoplybooks.com/wife-dressing-by-anne-fogarty-1959-first-edition/
  16. https://www.ebay.com/itm/236416986646
  17. https://www.amazon.com/Wife-Dressing-Fine-Being-Well-Dressed/dp/0979338425
  18. https://elmhurst.ecampus.com/wife-dressing-fine-art-being-welldressed/bk/9780979338427
  19. https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-02-9780979338427
  20. https://dressaday.com/2008/03/24/books-wife-dressing/
  21. https://serendipityhandmade.blogspot.com/2016/08/wife-dressing-by-anne-fogarty-review.html
  22. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2468218.Wife_Dressing
  23. https://randolphstreetmarket.com/2023/04/american-fashion-part-1/
  24. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/84096
  25. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=Anne%2BFogarty
  26. https://www.vintagefashionguild.org/resources/item/label/fogarty-anne/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.